The Gruson-Gewächshäuser are a series of Victorian cast-iron and glass greenhouses dating to 1895, commissioned by the industrialist Hermann Gruson and now managed by the city as a botanical garden. The greenhouses house tropical and subtropical plants: palms, cacti, succulents, orchids, and aquatic plants in a series of climate-controlled houses ranging from humid tropical to arid desert.
The architecture of the greenhouses is itself worth seeing — the ornate cast-iron framework, with decorative details typical of late-Victorian industrial design, provides an elegant setting for the plants inside. The largest house has a soaring central space with mature palms that fill the entire height.
This is one of Magdeburg's most pleasant and underrated attractions: warm in winter when the rest of the city is grey and cold, and a genuine horticultural collection rather than just a tourist attraction. Located in the southern part of the city, reachable by tram.