Campus Rutheneum

Oh, I love the town of Gera! Those old, prefabricated concrete apartment blocks and the historic market place with the fragments of the city wall – it makes me sentimental, makes me feel like home ... And the feeling of solidarity, amazing: parents in the city joining forces to raise funds for a new school!

And now they actually did build that new secondary school, right by the Rutheneum, the oldest grammar school in the town, and the Reuss government building from 1722, at the very spot where an old East German prefabricated building stood.

What was created isn’t only a new building but a whole new campus with leafy terraces and comfortable seating steps, and a new city wall where the old one used to be. A schoolyard that protects the pupils with its lush greenery. A campus that connects buildings and times, and the school with the town, with public access. And this campus doesn’t only connect, it’s also a symbol for what resolute parents can achieve for their children when they challenge the city council.