Gera is, with around 93,000 inhabitants, the third-largest city of Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the Thüringer Städtekette, an almost straight string of cities consisting of the six largest Thuringian cities from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena to Gera in the east. Gera is the largest city in the Vogtland, and one of its historical capitals along with Plauen, Greiz and Weida. The city lies in the East Thuringian Hill Country, in the wide valley of the White Elster, between Greiz and Leipzig. Gera is located in the Central German Metropolitan Region, approximately 60 kilometres south of Saxony's largest city of Leipzig, 80 km east of Thuringia's capital Erfurt and 120 km west of Saxony's capital Dresden.
First mentioned in 995 and developing into a city during the 13th century, Gera has historical significance as being one of the main residences of the Ducal House of Reuss and subsequently the capital of the Principality of Reuss-Gera and of the People's State of Reuss, one of the many microstates the Thuringian region consisted of, before they were unified to form Thuringia in 1920.