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Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the Thüringer Städtekette, an almost straight string of cities consisting of the six largest Thuringian cities from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar ...
Gera is a city in Thuringia, Germany, known for its art collections, historic houses and scenic hikes. Learn what to see and do in Gera, from the Otto Dix Haus to the Orangerie, and get some travel tips.
- Kunstsammlung Gera – Orangerie
- Kunstsammlung Gera – Otto Dix Haus
- Haus Schulenburg
- Historische Geraer Höhler
- Hofwiesenpark
- Museum für Naturkunde
- Stadtmuseum Gera
- Rathaus Gera
- Marktplatz
- Schloss Osterstein
Gera’s strong art collection is in the resplendent Baroque orangery ordered by Count Heinrich XXV of Reuß-Gera in the late 1720s. Overlooking recently restored formal gardens, this dignified monument would only serve as a greenhouse and orangery until the death of the last count of Reuß-Gera in 1802. After that it had a variety of uses over the nex...
Otto Dix, the much Objectivity painter who was famous for depicting characters in Weimar society in the 1920s, was born at this building in Gera’s Untermhaus area in 1891. As the son of a seamstress and blacksmith, Dix had humble origins, and his parents had a two-room tenement inside this large listed 18th-century building which was only bought ou...
From 1913 the textile manufacturer and art collector Paul Schulenburg hired Art Nouveau virtuoso Henry van de Velde to build him a villa. Van de Velde took charge of even the most minor furnishings inside, and when the garden was extended later in 1919 his student Thilo Schoder drew up the plans. The house is held as one of van de Velde’s masterpie...
In 1487 all property owners in Gera were granted the privilege to brew their own beer. For the next 300 years this gave rise to mass excavation under the streets of the town, as the citizens needed ever more space and the right climatic conditions to store their brews. Two surveys and restorations of the cellars were carried out in the 1970s and 80...
Gera’s largest park was given a makeover for the 2007 Bundesgartenschau. Beside the Weiße Elster River, the Hofwiesenpark is a 30-hectare green space dividing the Gera’s city centre from the Untermhaus area in the west. The park has lush meadows, high shady trees, public art and flowerbeds that take turns to erupt in bloom in spring and summer. The...
Gera’s natural history museum is in the Schreibersche Haus, a Baroque mansion commissioned by a Leipzig merchant in the 1680s. The name comes from the Schreiber textile family, who lived here between 1716 and 1847. But the house’s main claim to fame is that it was the only residential building to survive the city fire of 1780. The museum is about t...
The city museum is in a lovely Baroque hall at Heinrichstraße 2. The building has a chequered past: Dating from 1739 it was established as a home for orphans and Gera’s mentally ill citizens. The basement had cells, and for most of the 19th century this building functioned as a prison and workhouse. The museum first opened in 1914, and then again i...
On Marktplatz, Gera’s town hall was constructed in the Renaissance style in 1574. As the city grew, the initial building merged with neighbouring houses and is now compound of historic buildings. At street level check out the portal, which was carved in 1576. In the pediment, over a wealth of statuary is the Holy Roman double-headed eagle, and belo...
Bordered entirely by fine old facades, the square in front of the town hall has to be the first port of call for any walk around Gera’s old centre. In the centre is the Simsonbrunnen, a Baroque fountain first carved in 1686 and then updated after heavy weathering and storm damage in 1932. On the northwest corner of the square is the municipal pharm...
High on the opposite bank of the Weiße Elster is what’s left of the oldest building in Gera. Schloss Osterstein is on a plateau that has been fortified since the Bronze age, while the castle from the 1100s has Slavic origins. From 1550 up to Second World War, Schloss Osterstein was in the hands of the various branches of the Reuß family. The proper...
Gera, city, Thuringia Land (state), east-central Germany. It lies along the Weisse Elster River, southwest of Leipzig. First mentioned in 995 and by 1237 referred to as a town, it became part of the principality of Meissen in 1547.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Gera. City of Otto Dix. Embedded in a lovely, hilly landscape on the banks of the Weiße Elster river lies the birthplace of the famous 20th century painter, Otto Dix.
May 29, 2023 · Gera is a city brimming with history, culture, and natural beauty. Known for its well-preserved architecture, charming parks, and fascinating museums, Gera offers visitors a delightful blend of old-world charm and modern attractions. Just a short distance from Gera, you’ll find the picturesque Untermhäuser Schloss.
With a very pragmatic history as an industrial city, Gera bore the brunt of World War bombings to rise like a phoenix with its indomitable character intact. A whole new city center had to be constructed to enable the little town to rise from its own ashes.
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