As in longer polyenes, the strong (1)A(1)-->1B(2) band in the UV spectrum of 1,3Z,5-hexatriene (Z-hexatriene) has a weak precursor, the 1A(1)-->(2)A(1) transition. It was measured in this work by a conventional spectrometer. Whereas the wave number of the 0-0 transition is by 5400 cm(-1) lower than that of the B-1(2) origin, the vibrational contour indicates that the vertical transitions of the two bands nearly coincide. From the fast decay of the rotational anisotropy in the time-resolved measurements we conclude that this band is perpendicularly polarized. We measured the lifetime of the 2A(1) state after pumping it directly by 250 fs pulses and probing the excited molecules by ionizing it by delayed pulses. The lifetimes decreased from several ps to 730 fs, when the excess energy was increased from near 0 to 4000 cm(-1) and more. From the temperature dependence we infer a barrier of about 170 cm(-1) (2 kJ/mol).