Tom`s travels: Brandenburg an der Havel (19/07/2019)

After three consecutive sunny days, a cloudy day prompted me to take a closer day trip, this time to the nearby town of Brandenburg an der Havel, just west of Berlin. So after taking a local S-bahn train I reached the small town in just about one hour. After getting off the train I headed towards the city center, first passing by the Jakobskapelle, a small brick gothic church which was unfortunately closed. After a little bit of walking I reached the old town proper, marked at its southern end by the Steintorturm, a medieval tower which used to be part of the fully defensive complex of walls that surrounded the town. This part of the town was actually the Neustadt, or New town, which was probably formed around the 12th-13th centuries alongside the Old Town. The two were joined together not long after to consistute the town of Brandenburg. The long Main Street of the Neustadt then led me to one of the city's main churches, the church of St Catherine. Considered as the largest in town, it is built in a beautiful brick gothic style dating to the end of the 14th century. It's structure reminded me a lot about the churches from the northern part of Germany, and in fact I learnt that Brandenburg had as well been part of the Hanseatic league thus having the influx of the architecture from that part of Germany. The interior held some interesting and rich furnishing including some beautiful gothic altarpieces. After visiting the church I walked through the center and reached the northern end of the Neusdtadt, where another tower, the Muhlentorturm singladded that part of the defensive walls. The walls of the town have long since gone, however the two towers and the outline of the houses and streets, seen particularly well from above, clearly marked the trace of where they once stood. Continuing further north I then reached the St Peter and Paul Cathedral. Founded by King Otto I during the 10th century, the building then commenced during the 13th century and was only completed 300 years later in its current Gothic structure. Its interior was quite simple with whitewashed walls, but featured some interesting furnishing. Particularly noteworthy was the annexed convent which could be visited freely and held many restored rooms showing the early structure of the Cathedral including some Romanesque and Gothic capitals. A little museum also showcased some altarpieces, liturgical objects and paraments. The city lies on the Havel river, hence its name, however many other small rivers and affluents encircled or flowed through the city center. After crossing one of the main branches I reached the part where the Old Town is set. Here I visited the church of St Gotthardt, one of three main ones together with the Cathedral and St Catherine. The church was started during the 12th century, that's when the west tower dates from, and was later finished during the 15th century from when the rest of the church dates to. The Gothic interior was well furnished and quite colourful with some Baroque additions as well. Right in front of the church, a curious bronze statue of a dog with antlers was placed, but I could not figure out why and what it represented. Not far from there I then reached the western end of town where the Rathenower Torturm was set, another of the towers characterising the old walls. Walking a little further I then reached the old town hall, built in gothic brick during the 15th century with the typical Roland statue standing in front of the entrance dating to 1474. At 5.35m high it is one of the tallest and most impressive Roland statues in Germany. In from of the statue and town hall a fountain was set with another bronze statue of the same dog I had previously seen right next to it. After having crossed another bridge I reached a nice area where boats and canoes were being rented and a open air museum featuring a reconstructed ancient slavic settlement had been set up. I then crossed yet another bridge and crossed through the Neustadt once more to reach the National Archaeological Museum. Housed in what was once the Monastery of St Paul, it features archaeological remains from the Stone Age all the way to the modern period. The lady at the main desk was very friendly, and though not able to speak English tried to tell me everything in German with me being barely able to understand anything at all. I really enjoyed touring around it, admiring the objects in such a historic setting which had been wonderfully restored not long before, in 2008. Once the visit was over I decided it was time to go so headed back to the train station from where I got the next ride bound to Berlin.