Gruson-Gewächshäuser (Gruson Greenhouses)

Hermann Gruson (1821-1895) was a Magdeburg industrialist who lived on the site of his works at Buckau, taken over by Friedrich Krupp AG in 1893; he was also a noted plant collector. Between 1869 and 1871 he had glasshouses built on his private property in Freie Straße, where the collection eventually filled fifteen sections in eleven houses, with some 420 succulent species and more than 900 kinds of cactus. In 1889 he sent Albert Mathsson to collect plants in Mexico, and in 1894 the German Cactus Society honoured him at its general assembly.

Gruson died on 30 January 1895. On 28 February his son informed the city council of his father's wish to give part of the collection to Magdeburg. The gift came with conditions: upkeep by the city, continuation of Gruson's growing methods, his name to be kept in perpetuity, public access with free days, and employment of his gardener and apprentices. The public complex built in the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Garten, today's Klosterbergegarten, opened on 12 April 1896; its construction is attributed to Heinrich Müller-Breslau.

Extended in 1904 and given a Victoria house in 1910-1911, the greenhouses were wrecked by the air raids of 11 September 1944 and 16 January 1945, which destroyed the entrance, the palm house and most of the plants. Some houses reopened as early as 1 September 1945; the palm house, rebuilt between 1972 and 1985, only reopened in 1986. A renovation programme approved in 2009 returned the entrance to its original site in 2010, then rebuilt the fern house, the cactus house and the winter garden, reopened on 10 November 2021, followed by the mountain rainforest house in November 2023.

Today's complex comprises ten display houses plus growing houses, with less than 4,000 m² under glass. The route passes through sharply contrasting climates: palm house, dry subtropics and dry tropics, mountain rainforest, epiphyte house, small and large tropical houses, Victoria house, Queen of the Night house, laurel forest and fern house, arranged around an inner courtyard laid out as the Telemann Garden in 2012.

At 16 metres, the palm house is the tallest element; destroyed in 1945, it was rebuilt in 1972-1985 and overhauled again in the first phase of works in 2010. The Victoria house of 1910 combines steel and concrete. A few parts survive from the founding years: the administration building with its glasshouse, the Mediterranean house and the former cactus house, now a classroom. The latter is partly made of components produced by chilled casting (Schalenhartguss), a process developed by Hermann Gruson himself and a direct reminder of the donor's industrial career.

The greenhouses grow about 4,900 plant species, or some 5,400 taxa once subspecies, varieties, cultivars and hybrids are counted. In keeping with the origins of the collection, cacti and succulents hold a special place: the golden barrel cactus, Echinocactus grusonii, whose Latin name honours Hermann Gruson, is represented by a specimen about 150 years old. The houses also feature the giant water lily Victoria cruziana and a giant bamboo.

Animals live here as well: free-flying red-whiskered bulbuls, crested partridges, two female spectacled caimans, an aquarium of seven freshwater tanks and one seawater tank, terrariums with poison dart frogs, snakes and tarantulas, as well as chameleons and day geckos.

The greenhouses stand on Schönebecker Straße in Magdeburg, directly next to the Klosterbergegarten, a public park that makes a natural extension to the visit. The suggested route leads through the display houses one after another, from the palm house to the fern house by way of the aquarium, and the inner courtyard of the Telemann Garden offers an open-air pause.

The greenhouses' programme includes events such as a plant market devoted to botanical rarities in spring and a day dedicated to the greenhouse animals in autumn. The year 2026 marks the 130th anniversary of the opening to the public, which the greenhouses are celebrating.