Magnetization measurements have been carried out on the Er2Mn3Si5 compound (tetragonal Sc2Fe3Si5-type, space group P4/mnc) in the temperature range 1.8-300 K. There is a crossover from a room temperature paramagnetic phase to a ferromagnetic phase at 75 K (TC1). A second magnetic transition is observed at 11.5 K (TC2). The magnetic susceptibility in the paramagnetic region, above 100 K, follows simple Curie-Weiss type behavior. The magnetization does not saturate at 2 K even in applied fields of 7 T. Neutron diffraction data collected at 300 and 9.2 K confirm that both the rare earth and the Mn moments in this compound carry magnetic moments. There are two Mn sublattices (Mn1 and Mn2) coupled orthogonal to each other. Both the rare earth and the Mn1 sublattice order along the positive a axis but the Mn2 moments order along the positive c axis, thus leading to a competition of magnetic interactions at low temperatures. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.