Geological garden

The decision to make this change was taken by the city of Hof in order to provide Hof Zoo with the urgently desired space for its further development.

After it became known that the Geological Garden was to be relocated from Hof Zoo, the city of Hof looked into the possibility of taking over the stones. After careful examination, however, it was determined that the stones of the Geological Garden could not be taken over by the city of Hof.

Several reasons led to this decision: The stones, previously displayed on around 1800 m2, would require a suitable area, which is not currently available. This is because the existing areas at Theresienstein are already used for various purposes, including sunbathing lawns, play areas, flowering meadows, biotopes, event areas and orchards. An appropriate exhibition concept and considerable structural measures would be required to prevent the stones from simply lying in the grass. This would involve a similar amount of work to the Botanical Gardens, including pathways, quarters, borders, signs and planting. Aspects such as monument protection, landscape conservation area regulations and biotope protection would have to be taken into account.

The geogarden is currently protected by a fence, whereas an outdoor installation would be exposed to a higher risk of vandalism. Even a simpler installation would incur considerable costs in terms of construction (probably €50,000), operation and maintenance (approx. €20,000 per year and more). The financial burden for the city of Hof would be considerable, e.g. the repair of the stream alone would cost around € 60,000. Due to the current tight budget situation, further support from the city of Hof is therefore not feasible.

In addition, the 30-year earmarking period resulting from the 1994 State Garden Show has now expired, meaning that there is no further obligation to look after the Geological Garden.

The city of Hof is now concentrating more on the Theresienstein and the Botanical Gardens, which, in combination with Hof Zoo, make a major contribution to the city's leisure facilities.

Not all the objects are moving to Bayreuth. The art objects, the "water" play element in a smaller form, a small selection of stones, the granite block with saw blade, the outer walls made of slate stone and the old oak tree will remain in the zoo, so that the basic character of the facility will also remain. The stream, large boulders and signage will not be preserved.

The collection of large boulders will be professionally presented in the Geological Garden in Bayreuth and will therefore remain accessible to all interested parties in Upper Franconia.