Gera Things to Do

St. Salvator Church was built between 1717-1720 in Baroque style on top to the Nikolai Hill, the highest point of Gera. The tower becamse victim of a big fire in late 18th century and had to be rebuilt later. The interior is completely in Art Nouveau style - really worth a visit!

St. Johannis Church is the first church of Gera and was built there in 12th century but completly destroyed after a fire in 1780. One hundred years later the church was re-erected. The 'Park der Demokratie' (park of democracy) was plant around the curch in 1885.

The Osterstein Castle is the oldest building in Gera. It was founded in 12th century and remodeled over the years. In 1945 it was destroyed and rebuilt after the World War Two.
Today, it houses a museum of paintings and photos.

Gera's Market Square is surrounded by historic buildings from different epoques. In the center of the square is the Simonsbrunnen (Simon fountain). The market square is dominated by the city hall and the town pharmacy. The town hall was built in only two years (1573-1575) and is a masterpiece of Renaissance style. If you do not shy to climb the steep narrow staircase of the tower you will be awarded by an excellent view over the roofs of Gera.

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The Federal Garden Show has been held for 56 years and this year with take place in Thuringia with 2 different sites at Gera and Ronneburg. The Gera Hofwiesenpark, in the city centre has a display area of 30 hectares. The area is flat and more compact than its neighbour at Ronneburg, but still displays 60,000 shrubs. There are numerous themed gardens to view. Slightly unusual from an English point of view is the Jahr Villa display containing ‘Grave plants and memorials.’ I suppose there is nothing like planning ahead. Gera is twinned with 12 other towns around the world and each has a display. A ticket costs 16 euros for 1 day or 26 euros for 2 days. The show runs until the 14th October.

The Gera City Theater is located at one end of a park called the Küchengarten (Kitchen Garden).

At the other end of the same park is the Orangerie, which was built from 1729 to 1732. Over the years it has served as a military hospital, a horse barn, a high school and a restaurant. It is now used as an art museum.

Like most museums in this part of the world, it is closed on Mondays. They charge admission at the special exhibitions only.

An activity you need to do, if it is going on at that time is the Open Air theatre. It is fun and very funny. The zoo they have that is more of an open zoo. The animals are not locked behind cages like here.
The Hoehler's are very exciting. It's neat down there also gets pretty cramped in some areas.
Open Zoo

The 'Orangerie' is an art-museum today. Otto Dix was born in Gera and sometimes you can see a lot of pictures of him in the Orangerie.
Nice Park!