Fneodor Fontane and Marlene Dietrich : Germany

The 19th-century Writer Theodor Fontane described Brandenburg’sbeauty and natural charm in his “Walks in the March of Brandenburg”. Approximately 350 palaces and manor houses can be found here; particularly popular tourist destinations in addition to Sanssouci are the palaces in Rheinsberg (which Kurt Tucholsky made the subject of a short novel) and Branitz (with the Prince Puckler Museum). Of the roughly 150 museums and memorials, the Heinrich von Kleist Museum and Research Institution on Kleist in Frankfurt an der Oder deserves special mention here.

Cultural festivals take place throughout the year. Well known beyond the state’s boundaries are the Rheinsberg Music Days, the concerts in the impressive formerabbeys of Chorin and Lehnin, and the Potsdam-Sanssouci Music Festival. A distinctive kind of technical achievement is the world’s largest ship elevator in Niederfinow (built in 1934), which enables ships to overcome a 36-meter difference in elevation along the course of the Oder-Havel Canal.

In one of the world’s largest and oldest film studios, the film city of Potsdam-Babelsberg carries on the tradition of the Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), harking back to the days when stars such as Marlene Dietrich and directors such as Friedrich Wilhelm Mur-nau, Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang made their famous films here.