Gera: Otto Dix's Hometown, Thuringia's Second City, and a Jugendstil Gem Rebuilding After Industry
Gera has a population around 105,000 and is Thuringia's second-largest city after Erfurt. Otto Dix, the Expressionist and Neue Sachlichkeit painter, was born here in 1891; the Otto-Dix-Haus museum occupies his birthplace. The city has a remarkable collection of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) villas, particularly in the Untermhaus district, built during the prosperous textile era of the late 19th century. The Hofwiesenpark, created for the 2007 Bundesgartenschau, revitalised former industrial land along the Weisse Elster river.
Gera was capital of the Principality of Reuss-Gera until 1918. The Kuechengartenallee and the restored Orangerie are remnants of the princely past. Uranium mining in the surrounding Wismut region during the Soviet era left environmental scars that have required decades of remediation. The city's population has declined by roughly a third since reunification, from around 130,000 in 1989. The Hoehler (underground cellars) system beneath the old town, originally used for beer storage, is now a gallery and event space. Adult companionship follows Thuringia's framework.
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Gera has a population around 105,000 and is Thuringia's second-largest city after Erfurt. Otto Dix, the Expressionist and Neue Sachlichkeit painter, was born here in 1891; the Otto-Dix-Haus museum occupies his birthplace. The city has a remarkable collection of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) villas, particularly in the Untermhaus district, built during the prosperous textile era of the late 19th century. The Hofwiesenpark, created for the 2007 Bundesgartenschau, revitalised former industrial land along the Weisse Elster river.
Gera was capital of the Principality of Reuss-Gera until 1918. The Kuechengartenallee and the restored Orangerie are remnants of the princely past. Uranium mining in the surrounding Wismut region during the Soviet era left environmental scars that have required decades of remediation. The city's population has declined by roughly a third since reunification, from around 130,000 in 1989. The Hoehler (underground cellars) system beneath the old town, originally used for beer storage, is now a gallery and event space. Adult companionship follows Thuringia's framework.
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