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Brandenburg
Capital: Potsdam
Area: 29,479 km2
Population: 2.5 million
Brandenburg is akin to a world of water surrounding the metropolis of
Berlin and
Potsdam, a truly cultural gem. Brandenburg offers rich cultural heritage
in conjunction with excitement of a big city. Vacationing here, one can
experience the relaxation around the water of the river, touring the
countryside or explore the cities
 of Potsdam, Cottbus, and Brandenburg
City. There are over 500 castles, beautiful estates and mansions along
with monasteries and historic city centers with ancient walls and
fortifications with towers.
The beauty of the countryside can be attributed to fact more than
one-third of the land is environmentally protected. There certainly is
no shortage of waterway of interest with over 3,000 lakes, and 18,520
miles of rivers giving a special beauty to this land. Of all German
states, Brandenburg has the greatest expanse of water and is the known
as one of the most "aquatic" regions of Europe.
 Cottbus, the green
city on the river Spree, has long been known for its parks and has more
recently established itself as a university town. Nowadays Cottbus is
also a centre for trade fairs and congresses in the Niederlausitz. This
bilingual town's history has been shaped by both Germans and Sorbs.
Situated between Berlin and Dresden, close to the Spreewald (river Spree
forest), Cottbus is an easy destination to reach for tourists. Its
culture, art and nature offer many opportunities for adventure,
sightseeing and recreation.
Sanssouci Palace
In Niederlausitz Land the town of Luckau
Spreewald
Visit a river landscape that is one of the most beautiful as well as one
of the most singular nature preserves in Europe. The terms Spree (the
river) and Wald (forest) embrace a rugged inland delta with a network of
a hundred kilometres of branching water paths in a very small area.
Since 1991, the Spreewald is a UNESCO Biosphere Preserve. Where
elsewhere people drive cars to go shopping, for their daily commute to
work or for transporting larger objects, in the Spreewald interior,
boats are traditionally used for this purpose.
Unique cultural inheritance
Place names, street names and waterways are designated in two languages
in the Spreewald.
Why? The Spreewald and the Lausitz regions include settlement areas of a
small group of Slavic people: the Sorbs/Wends. Their own mother tongue
and their customs are of inestimable value for our homeland and both are
alive and thriving today.
Sorbian costumes
Up to the end of the 19th century even the men still wore costumes which
however declined in popularity for diverse reasons. The costumes of the
women and girls differed from Sunday to Sunday, mainly recognised by
different ways of binding of the headpiece (lapa). The lower Sorbian/Wendic
costume is characterised by its great diversity, with different styles
for churchgoing, everyday wear, work, various family festivities etc. In
the first half of this century the celebratory versions of the costume
threatened to die out. In the process of continuing industrialisation of
the Lower Lausitz, some of the costume variations lost their meaning, or
they went out of fashion considered as peasant clothing (pauersch).
Young people in the villages nowadays wear the festive folk costumes as
well as the dancing costumes in order to cultivate Wendic traditions and
customs. They are worn from January up to March at Shrovetide (zapust),
in the summer when attending the different harvest festivals, as well as
in September to the Spreewald festivities. The valuable fabrics and silk
materials are still bought today, the artistic embroidery is done by the
wearer as well as by their mothers and grandmothers.
Some say that the Spreewald pickle is better known than the Spreewald.
In any case, everywhere it whets the appetite for our beautiful country.
Tasty in many forms, as the famous sour pickle, or as herb pickle,
pepper pickle, garlic pickle or mustard pickle.
As a significant vegetable growing area of Germany, the Spreewald has a
long tradition of growing vegetables and their preservation.
Information
Tourist Board Brandenburg
Am Neuen Markt 1
14467 Potsdam
Phone: 01149-311-29873-73
www.reiseland-brandenburg.de
Links
http://www.cottbus.de/
http://www.gastliches-deutschland.de/brandenburg/
http://www.brandenburg.de
http://www.reiseland-brandenburg.de/
http://www.potsdam-portal.net/
http://www.potsdam.de
http://www.sanssouci-sightseeing.de/
http://www.spreewald.de
http://www.spreewald-info.de
http://www.dahme-spreewald.de
http://www.niederlausitz.com
http://www.niederlausitz.de/index2.html
http://www.luckau.de/
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