Some additional information on the new Leitz Park in Wetzlar:
The new site is home to four building complexes, one of which is the recently opened arcona Living Ernst Leitz Hotel, which offers 129 rooms, apartments and suites and an interior architecture and design concept that reflects numerous aspects of photography.
Immediately adjacent to the hotel is the new Leica building, which contains the museum, the archives, a photo studio, a Leica Store and the museum shop. The museum will be an important element of the Leitz-Park concept, and, in the future, will present and illustrate the entire history of Leica – from microscopes and cameras to sport optics products.
A further building is the new head office of Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH (formerly CW Sonderoptic GmbH). In the relatively short space of time since its founding by Dr Kaufmann in 2008, the company has earned an outstanding international reputation. For example, in 2015, the Summilux-C lenses played a role in the winning of four Oscars by the film ‘Birdman’.
A further building here is a representative office block that offers new office space for local businesses. The ground floor is the home of the Ernst Leitz Werkstätten, which begins its work with the opening of the Leitz-Park and will establish an entirely new and exclusive product line in the portfolio of Leica Camera AG: most complicated, high-end mechanical watches, manufactured in limited series. The premises accommodate a workshop, a studio, a store and a ‘glass manufactory’.
