View of the Ernst Haeckel House from the east

Ernst-Haeckel-Haus

View of the Ernst Haeckel House from the east
Image: Jürgen Scheere (University of Jena)

The Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, built in the Italian country house style as a “Villa Medusa” in 1882-3, was the residence and workplace of the biologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). The house together with its archive and memorial museum were opened as a research site external to the university on the 31st of October 1920, one year after his death. While it was previously a commemorative site, it now fosters critical perspectives on the history of science in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Today the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus is an institution of the Faculty of Biological Sciences and houses the Chair for the History and Philosophy of Science as well as a museum and an archive. To mark Ernst Haeckel’s centenary (2019), the building underwent a renovation and restoration in the years 2017-2021.

Ernst Haeckel Haus (Historisches Arbeitszimmer)
Image: Jürgen Scheere (University of Jena)
Museum
Exhibition on the Life and Work of Ernst Haeckel
The drawer cabinet in the Villa Medusa
Image: Jürgen Scheere (University of Jena)
Archive
Nachlässe and Research Library
Ernst Haeckel in profile, oil painting by Karl Bauer
Image: Dirk Backenköhler
Supporting Association
Supporting Association Ernst-Haeckel-Haus e.V.
Die Rittersche Ladungssäule im Ernst-Haeckel-Haus
Image: Jens Meyer (University of Jena)
The History of Science History at the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus
Historical retrospective & former employees
Title page of Ernst Haeckel's "Anthropogeny and Evolutionary History of Man" from 1874
Image: Ernst-Haeckel-Archiv, Universität Jena
Historical-Critical Perspectives
Historical-critical perspectives on Ernst Haeckel