In 1914, Oskar Barnack, an employee at the Wetzlar optical factory in Germany, built the first Leica. The Leitz was the first small format camera, using 35mm film to produce a 24x36mm images.
Leica Camera AG still holds the original version of this “ur-Leica,” as well as the negatives and prints of its first photographs, for example, those taken by the entrepreneur Ernst Leitz during a trip to the United States in 1914.
The first model of the small-format Leica, the fixed lens Leica I, was mass-produced and marketed beginning in 1925. Thousands of the small and handy cameras were produced that year, revolutionizing photography by allowing shots to be taken with more speed and freedom.
To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2014, Leica Camera AG launched several new products and organized a series of exhibitions, contests and book releases. A special edition of the monthly magazine LFI (Leica Fotografie International) will be published for the Leica centenary.
The year 2014 will also see the relocation of Leica headquarters, currently in Solms, to a new factory in Wetzlar, where the Leica was born. The 27,000m2 building was designed by the architects Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg. the project also includes a Leica museum, a gallery, a store, a photo studio and a restaurant.
The cultural programs of the museum, dedicated to the history of the company and its products, and the Leica gallery have not yet been announced.
