A visit to the second-largest city of Brandenburg. Lower Sorbian language, plaques to the working class, French Huguenots, contemporary architecture and Jugendstil.

• Duration: 3 hours
• How long it takes from Berlin: 1,5 hours by regional train

We leave the railway station into the direction of the old city. Wilhelm-Külz-Straße greets us with some magnificent apartment houses from the early 20th century. We turn right and continue to the church of St. Maria Friedenskönigin (St. Mary the Queen of Peace). It is adorned by striking figure of Jesus Christ made of concrete. The artist is Rudolf Brückner-Fuhlrott, who decorated more than 100 catholic churches in the communist East Germany.

By now you have probably noticed that many street signs are bilingual: German name is accompanied by a translation into Lower Sorbian. It is a Slavic language spoken by Sorbs, an ethnic minority living in Germany and Poland. Sorbs were subject to a centuries-long Germanisation, and their existence was denied in the Third Reich. The GDR recognized them as an ethnic minority, but that didn’t stop the decline of the Sorbian languages, in fact, it has even accelerated. As of now, there are about 60,000 Sorbs living in Germany, and their rights are anchored in the constitutions of Brandenburg and Saxony. The unofficial capital of Sorbs is Bautzen / Budyšin, a hill-top town worth a visit on its own (if you are interested in Bautzen, read my post about the region of Oberlausitz).

Next we take the Taubenstraße which ends with a view of Weltspiegel cinema, the second oldest continuously used cinema in Germany, opened in 1911 (the oldest one is Burg Theater in Burg bei Magdeburg).

We take the next street past the cinema on our right, and enter the busy roadway. The old city begins on the other side, marked by a red-brick tower. The tower, called Spremberger Turm, was erected in the 13th century as part of the gate into the city. Don’t miss the plaque on its wall: it commemorates those who stood up to the Kapp Putsch, an attempted coup by the nationalist and monarchist factions against the Weimar Republic, initiated in the military (some parts of the second season of Babylon Berlin are very loosely based on the history of the coup). While police and the army stood by, up to 12 millions of workers joined a general strike, paralyzing the country. Unable to communicate or move forces, the putschists failed.

We continue along Spremberger Straße that runs through the old city. The church at Schloßkirchplatz is currently used as a synagogue. The old synagogue was destroyed during the November Pogroms carried out by SA and civilians in 1939, and no new synagogue was built afterwards. The church building was erected by French Huguenots who settled in Cottbus in 1701, fleeing their own prosecution. Opposite the church, a communist-era pink building displays a relief representing friendship among peoples. Behind it, a part of the modernist department store, built in 1926, survives. The fountain in center of the square is dedicated to Sorbs.

There are many examples of commercial architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries on Spremberger Straße, mixing neo-baroque, historical, Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles. The most elaborate one is located on the end of the street: you can recognize it by the figure of Mercury.

Now we enter the Altmarkt, the center of the old city. It emerged as an intersection of three trade routes in the 13th century, but was completely burned down three hundred years later. The oldest houses here date back to the 18th century. Notice how Plattenbauten (buildings constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs typical for East Germany) are integrated into the historical atmosphere of the square on Berliner Straße. There are several such “insertions” in the old city: in fact, a special style of Plattenbauten was designed to fit in among the 18th century baroque. After a visit to the Church of St. Nikolai, if we take a turn to Klosterstraße, we will see a composition called “Sorbian Wedding” at the corner.

Our next destination is a small island on the Spree. We pass the imposing district court on Gerichtsplatz and arrive at the river. The red-brick building, built in a neo-Gothic style in 1896, was originally a hydroelectric power plant. It was shut down in 1968 after the construction of coal power plants.

On Uferstraße, opposite the former power plant, there are three oldest houses in Cottbus. The first one, the smallest orange house, was built in 1727, the neighboring house was built in 1780, and the red-brick house in 1860. All belonged to the tanners. If you’ve been to France you have probably seen similar style of craftsmen houses (for example, in the old center of Strasbourg). Supposedly the French Huguenots brought this style with them to Cottbus.

The next stop on our sightseeing list is the futuristic library of the Brandenburg University of Technology. After taking in some fresh air at the Goethpark located on the small island, we move towards the university campus by taking Goetherstraße and then walking on the Puschkinpromenade in the Puschkinpark. Then Dreiferstraße and Sielower Straße will bring you to the library, which also functions as a communication center. It is worth walking around it: the form changes with the point of observation. The architects are Herzog & de Meuron, who are most famous in Germany for Allianz Arena in Munich and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

This will be a good moment to take lunch. I’d recommend Mr. Tu on Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, especially if you’re looking for great vegan options. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße will take us to the commercial and administrative center of Cottbus and in the direction of the railway station. We pass Stadthalle Cottbus, the largest exhibition hall in Brandenburg, on our left. On our right, there is the Cottbus city hall, rebuilt after almost completely burning down in 1945. Further along, there are remains of the medieval city wall.

If we continue further on Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, along the walls of the old city, we will come to Spremberger Turm that we saw in the begging of the tour. So we turn left to make a detour to the State Theater, an impressive Jugendstil building. The architect is Bernhard Sehring, who also designed Theater des Westens in Berlin. The State Theater is surrounded by many villas built in the beginning of the 20th century, at the time of the economic boom in the local textile industry.

Here the tour ends. We take the appropriately named Bahnhofstraße to the railway station.