Gera

Industrial city in the Land (administrative region) of Thuringia, Germany, 50 km/31 mi south of Leipzig, on the Weisse Elster River; population (2005 est) 103,900. It was the capital of the East German district of Gera 1952–90. Industries include electronics and telecommunications. The surrounding area has been badly affected by the environmental effects of lignite mining, now in decline.

Features Gera has many historic buildings, including several Gothic churches, dating from the 14th century, and a number of baroque (late 16th-century–early 18th-century) merchants' houses, Rathaus (town hall), Orangery, and Schreibersches Haus. There is a museum of natural history and a musuem of applied art.