Cottbus: Parks, Culture and Special Discoveries
Accommodation in Cottbus
Cottbus combines expansive parklands with insights into Sorbian/Wendish culture and a diverse urban history. It also offers special discoveries such as a late Gothic brick church, a zoo with over 1,200 animals and a museum dedicated to the history of aviation in Lusatia. When planning your trip, it is worth first considering whether you mainly want to experience parks and nature, culture or outings with children. These interests can help guide your choice of holiday apartment in Cottbus, without requiring you to choose a particular district.
Parks ranging from designed landscapes to green spaces
Branitz Park shows how a flat agricultural landscape can be transformed into an artfully designed park: Hermann, Prince von Pückler-Muskau, shaped it between 1845 and 1871 with hills, valleys and waterways. Two earth pyramids are among the park’s distinctive features. The lake pyramid serves as Pückler’s burial place. The park also contains the restored manor farm, regarded as the gateway to this internationally significant work of garden art.
A permanent exhibition at the Branitz manor farm visitor centre provides information about the artistic principles of Pückler and Cottbus painter Blechen, as well as the creation and significance of Branitz Park. Another special feature of the exhibition: visitors can experience a balloon flight over the park. This offers a way to discover the park landscape not only through its design but also through the ideas behind this work of garden art.
The 55-hectare Spreeauenpark links Cottbus’s inner-city green spaces with Branitz Landscape Park. Its character is shaped by waterside perennial gardens, avenues of old oaks, beech forests, extensive meadows and quiet areas. The Wiesenpark has a well-developed network of paths providing access to the park’s other areas. If you like to combine your stay with park landscapes and green spaces, you can take these places into account when choosing the focus of your trip.
Zoo and events in Spreeauenpark
Cottbus Zoo is home to over 1,200 animals from 170 species. A petting zoo and a playground make it a particularly family-friendly destination. The zoo is located between the Spree, Branitz Park and Spreeauenpark. For families who would like to plan a zoo visit alongside cultural activities, Cottbus offers another distinct aspect of a stay.
The Wiesenpark in Spreeauenpark is used for open-air concerts, large celebrations and picnics. The park pavilion serves as an event stage for up to 1,200 spectators. It hosts celebrations, open-air events and concerts, as well as theatre, light and fire performances. These uses offer different ways to experience the park; however, they do not indicate specific event dates.
Another natural attraction in Spreeauenpark is the Lower Lusatian Tertiary Forest. Its areas are called Findlingsallee, Mammutstubben and Kohlemoor. The names refer to different themes within the site and make the Tertiary Forest a different kind of park visit from the designed garden spaces in Branitz.
Churches, museums and the region’s history
The Upper Church of St. Nicholas is a late Gothic, three-aisled brick hall church dating from the 15th century and is considered the largest church in Lower Lusatia. Climbing its 55-metre-high tower affords views over the green city of Cottbus. The church and tower offer two different perspectives: the distinctive architecture at ground level and views over the city from above.
The Wendish Museum in Cottbus/Chóśebuz is dedicated to the cultural history of the Sorbs/Wends in Lower Lusatia. Its permanent exhibition uses artefacts, traditional costumes and documents to provide insights into Sorbian/Wendish life from the past to the present, as well as into traditions, language and identity. The City Museum complements this perspective with the history of the city and region: its permanent exhibition, “The City’s Memory”, presents collections relating to life, work and the region’s culture, as well as the development of Cottbus and Lower Lusatia.
The Brandenburg Pharmacy Museum displays fully preserved pharmacy interiors from the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include original dispensaries, an herb room, a poison room and a Galenic laboratory. The Airfield Museum focuses on 90 years of history of Cottbus’s airfields and aviation in Lusatia. And the Spreewehr Mill is one of the few surviving river mills in the eastern German states; it is an object of technical and historical significance. Each of these destinations has its own focus, ranging from pharmaceuticals and technology to urban and cultural history.
The zoo is also among the subordinate local pages: Kahren. More local destinations can be found here: Frankfurt / Oder, Brandenburg An Der Havel.
For the higher-level travel overview: Brandenburg.
