Museum of Optics Industry

Johann Heinrich August Duncker, son of a pastor, invented a grinding machine for optical glass. Therefor he received in 1801 the royal privilege to establish an institution for optics industry in Rathenow. That is why Rathenow became the first city of optics industry in Germany, called “city of optics”. Within 100 years the cities population was quintupled.

The civic museum is dedicated to this industrial success story and presents all about the glass lens. See and learn more about the importance and meaning of seeing and light. Touch and try different microscopes, binoculars and special glasses. The museum has a collection of thousands of optical instruments. One of it is the reproduction of Duncker's famous grinding machine.