Leitz-Park (Leica Welt)

Leica's headquarters and visitor centre on the eastern edge of town

Leitz-Park is the modern Leica complex on the eastern edge of Wetzlar, opened in 2014. It groups the factory, the corporate headquarters, the Ernst Leitz Museum, a gallery, a hotel, and the company shop on a single site. The museum traces the history of the company from 19th-century microscopes through Oskar Barnack's first 35mm prototypes to today's M-series and S-series.

The factory itself can be visited on a guided tour, which goes through the lens-grinding workshops and the camera assembly hall — a serious treat for anyone interested in optics or fine mechanical manufacturing. Book ahead. Cyclists and walkers can reach the park from the Altstadt in 20 minutes along the Lahn.

things to do museum
A story
Oskar Barnack, an engineer at Ernst Leitz Optical in Wetzlar, built the prototype of the first 35 mm still camera here in 1914. The Leica I went into production in 1925 and is widely credited with inventing photojournalism as a profession — small enough to carry, fast enough to shoot, sharp enough to print.