Hanfried (monument)
The Hanfried is a bronze figure on the market square in Jena in memory of Johann Friedrich I of Saxony , the founder of the city's university . The monument was unveiled on August 18, 1858, on the occasion of the university's 300th anniversary.
After the Ernestines had lost the state university in Wittenberg in 1547 after the end of the Schmalkaldic War , Johann Friedrich I initiated the establishment of a "high school" in Jena, which was elevated to a university in 1557 and opened the following year.
In 1852, on the initiative of the businessman Johann Christian Friedrich Carl and members of the "Association for Thuringian History and Archeology", a committee was set up with the aim of erecting a monument in honor of the founder of the university. Karl Julius Moritz Seebeck , curator of the university, took over the management of the committee that organized the financing, the selection of the artist and the location of the monument.
The sculptor Friedrich Drake created the artistic draft. The bronze casting was made in the Lauchhammer art and bell foundry . The monument cost 12,000 Reichstaler , which was raised through donations from Jena citizens, former students, members of Protestant princely houses and the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV .
The figure standing on a pedestal is equipped with electoral regalia such as an ermine cap , an ermine cloak and a three-row chain with a pendant. In the right hand the figure holds a sword aloft. In the left hand there is an open Bible with an inscription from Psalm 121, verse 2: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” .
The name Hanfried arose from the name of Elector Jo HAN FRIED rich and a student joke .
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Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 41.6 ″ N , 11 ° 35 ′ 17 ″ E