Saurierpark Kleinwelka

A large outdoor dinosaur park in a former GDR-era sculpture garden, north of the city

Address Am Saurierpark 1, Kleinwelka, Bautzen

The Saurierpark, just north of Bautzen at Kleinwelka, is the largest dinosaur park in Germany — around 200 life-sized sculptures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts arranged along trails through 16 hectares of woodland. It originated in a private collection of concrete sculptures made by the East German artist Franz Gruss in the 1970s.

Beyond the dinosaurs there is a "Time Wheel" play area, a maze (the largest hedge maze in Germany), a sand-pit for fossil digging, and a planetarium. It is unashamedly aimed at families and is one of the better day-out destinations for kids in eastern Saxony. Open daily April to early November.

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A story
The park began as the personal obsession of the East German sculptor Franz Gruss, who from 1978 onwards filled his garden in Kleinwelka with life-sized concrete dinosaurs cast from his own designs. The state took over and expanded it in 2003, but most of the older sculptures — about 200 in all — are still Gruss's.

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