The botanical garden with the flora of eastern Thuringia is located on just 0.7 hectares in the middle of Gera's old town. The green oasis with around 800 different plant species, a natural spring and historic buildings was established in 1895 when the Botanical Garden Foundation was founded. The listed garden house with tower is a reminder of this time. The botanical garden is the last remaining civic garden before the eastern city wall. From 1897 to 1900, Gera teachers, botanists and gardeners transformed a garden in the English landscape style into a botanical teaching garden. The successful combination of the botanical garden with the Museum of Natural History, completed in 1947, links theoretical knowledge with practical experience, focusing on the East Thuringian landscape, which ranges from the fertile hilly countryside used by farmers to the heights of the slate mountains. This includes the rich flora and fauna of the shell limestone areas with their Mediterranean atmosphere as well as smaller pond areas.