The independent city in the South of Brandenburg, with around 100.000 inhabitants, sees itself as the modern Centre of the Lusatia region, where the structural change, especially in the energy sector, is being researched upon, shaped and lived in. Cottbus is both a young University City and a traditional Park town, a spot for well-being.
Cottbus/Chóśebuz is the second-largest city and largest municipality on the German-Polish border in Brandenburg. The city is therefore at the heart of Europe. Our 100,000 inhabitants include people from different countries and cultures who have become part of the community. They work, study and live here and enrich our city.
Town twinning projects offer a foundation for European integration in action. They shape exchange and peaceful local co-existence. Cottbus/Chóśebuz maintains links with seven international and two national twin towns, with an especially lively exchange with the partner city of Zielona Góra in Poland. A partnership agreement setting out specific joint projects for the year ahead is signed annually. Joint membership of the Euroregion “Spree-Neiße-Bober/Sprewa-Nysa-Bóbr” provides the framework for joint EU projects. The INTERREG projects are a particular highlight.
The other eight Cottbus/Chóśebuz partnerships allow our citizens the opportunity to discover many different nationalities via existing networks.
The town twinning projects of Cottbus/Chóśebuz thrive on the involvement of people and their personal lobbying in associations, schools and nurseries and administrations to promote mutual understanding.
The name of Cottbus comes from the Wendish language. It originates either in “kop´sebuz”, which means “to the passage place by the river”, or in the Slavic personal name “Chotibud”. Monuments from those times are well worth a visit. They characterise the City’s image and life with and inside the old walls. The painstakingly reconstructed Altmarkt, the city’s “parlour”, is bursting with vitality until evening.
Against a backdrop of magnificent town houses and baroque gable facades, romantic street-side cafes are tucked away below the tower of the Oberkirche. Around the historic city centre, a new city has evolved. Narrow alleyways open out onto modern shopping malls. The brightly coloured sundial is an attractive way of telling the time and invites people to take a stroll through Cottbus. The biggest city in the Lusatia region has retained the charm of a little town and it exudes this in a more inviting and attractive way than ever before.
Cottbus – the green city by the Spree River enjoys an increasing touristic demand.
The historic city centre with its Baroque town houses, and the State Theater built in Late Art Nouveau, give the visitor a glimpse of more than 850 years of city history.
A top-quality culture offer, attractive trip possibilities and a high performance tourism trade let the city become an amusing touristic destination.
Cottbus presents itself as one of the greenest cities in Germany. Wide reaching parks, alleys and promenades build a green belt across the Spree River. The beautiful park area connects the Spreeauenpark, the Fürst-Pückler Park Branitz and the Tierpark (Zoo). Visitors cannot resist the fascination of the Branitz Park with its Europa wide unique earth pyramid.
The old and the new lay in close proximity here. Cottbus holds the charm of a small city and it shines like new.
Experience art and culture in Cottbus! You can book or buy tickets for the town hall, the MesseCottbus, the national theatre and for nation-wide events here.
The official tourism services provider of the city, the CottbusService, is the first address for guests and citizens. Everything, that makes your stay in Cottbus pleasant and eventful, will be prompt and competently organized.
Museums and Galleries
Churches
Cottbus – a city of culture and arts and a centre of health
- Fürst-Pückler Park and Castle Branitz
- StaatstheaterCottbus (State Theatre)
- Centre of top class sports
- Excellent and plentiful leisure-time activities
- Carl-Thiem-Klinikum (Clinical Centre)
- Sana-Herzzentrum (Cardiac Centre)
Travel connection
By car:
BAB 13 Berlin – Dresden
BAB 15 Berlin – Cottbus – Forst – Breslau
Railway connections:
Cottbus – Görlitz Cottbus – Leipzig Cottbus – Dresden
Cottbus – Hannover
Cottbus – Berlin
Cottbus – Forst (Lausitz)
Cottbus – Emden Cottbus – Frankfurt/Oder
Airports:
Berlin – Schönefeld,
Berlin – Tegel,
Dresden
Cottbus today:
- Cottbus is developing into the centre for services, science and administration in southern Brandenburg.
- Cottbus is now the second biggest city in Brandenburg, the so-called high level centre of southern Brandenburg and the region’s centre of development.
- The only Technical University in Brandenburg is located in Cottbus.
- Cottbus has become a financial centre for Brandenburg.
- Cottbus has also become the trade fair and congress centre of the region.
- Cottbus is now a member of “Euroregion Spree-Neiße-Bober”.
- In 1995, Cottbus was the first city to organise the Federal Gardening Exhibition in the new federal states. That led to the realisation of city development “Cottbus 2000”.
- Cottbus is a centre for top-class sports.