The park area is located in the southwest of the city on the 265 meter high Cyriaksberg. Emerging from a former city fortification, the area was transformed from 1885 to public green space and further expanded in the subsequent period. After a first horticultural show in 1950, the largest and most important event of this kind took place in the GDR and in the socialist camp from 1961 with the regularly organized International Horticultural Exhibition (iga).
The all-year-round, entry-level complex combines various exhibition halls, plant showhouses, themed gardens and relaxation areas. The main attractions in the egapark include, besides the largest contiguous flowerbed of 6000 square meters in Europe, an observation tower, an observatory, Thuringia's largest children's playground and the country's only horticultural museum.
