Gas-insulated surge arrester

The surge arrester contains a tubular encapsulation of electrically conductive material that is filled with an insulating gas, an insulator that is held on the encapsulation and serves for supporting a current conductor (R) that is connected to a high voltage, an active part (R) that is arranged in the encapsulation and comprises at least one varistor column that is aligned along the encapsulation axis (A) and a field control element. In order to maintain the manufacturing costs of this arrester at a low level, the field control element and a first plug-type contact of a plug connection are held on the current conductor (R) of the insulator, and a high-voltage electrode of the varistor column that is connected in an electrically conductive fashion to the current conductor (R) via the plug connection contains the second plug-type contact of the plug connection.