Cottbus - Host of FECC 2009 Dies Natalis

PROGRAM

Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around 125 km southeast of Berlin on the River Spree.

Cottbus is the cultural centre of the Lower Sorbian minority. Many signs in the town are bilingual. The settlement was established in the 10th century, when Sorbs erected a castle on a sandy island in the River Spree. The first recorded mention of the town's name was in 1156.

Next to Cottbus is the famous Park of Branitz, created by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau after 1845.

Cottbus is also home to the Brandenburg Technical University (BTU) and the maths/science-oriented Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium, one of Germany's best schools in international competitions, named after the physicist Max Steenbeck.

Flag of Lower Lusatia

The biggest tourist attraction of the region (and in the whole Lusatia) are the marshlands, with many Spreewald/Błóta canals, picturesque broads of the Spree.

wikitravel.org/en/Spreewald

Fotos by /members.
virtual tourist.com/

Dating from the twelfth century, Cottbus is known as the gateway to Spreewald and its network of waterways and nature area.. The Spreewald (Spree Forest) is a protected UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1991. It includes low-lying areas in which the river Spree meanders in thousands of small waterways through meadows and forests. It is a beautiful, unique landscape about one hour south of Berlin and well worth a day trip or a weekend trip to relax from the buzzing city life.

Branitz Park was created by Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and is a lasting monument to his passion for horticulture and garden design. A masterpiece of German garden art by Hermann Prince of Pückler-Muskau. All of the trenches and ponds were artificially created and are connected to the nearby River Spree. The soil obtained as a result of excavation was piled up to form hills and two pyramids. Upon the sale of his land in Muskau, Prince Pückler purchased Branitz Castle and proceeded to have it converted, incorporating oriental design features.

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This charming city initially established itself in trade and textiles until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when it began to mine brown coal deposits.

The historical Altmarkt (Old Market), in the city centre, has a collection of beautiful baroque buildings.

There are also the 400-year-old Löwenapotheke (Lion Apothecary) and some examples of apothecaries' establishments spanning several hundred years that are preserved within the Apotheken Museum.

PROGRAM

ca. 16:30 Uhr / 4.30 (pm)

Bereitstellung von Bussen zur Spreewaldrundfahrt

Provision of coaches to the “Spreewald” round trip

ca. 17:30 Uhr / 5.30 (pm)

Kahnfahrt im Spreewald mit einem Glühwein in der Hand und eingehüllt in Decken

Boat trip in the “Spreewald” with a mulled wine in the hand and wrapped in covers

ca. 19:00 Uhr / 7.00 (pm)

Abendessen im „Alten Spreewaldbahnhof“ & gemütliches Beisammensein

Dinner in the „old Spreewald railway station“ & comfortable company

Samstag, 24.10.2009 (Saturday, 2009-10-24)

Frühstück im Hotel / Breakfast in hotel

10:00 Uhr / 10.00 (am)

Stadtrundfahrt durch die Spree- und Parkstadt Cottbus anschließend Besichtigung der Schokoladenfabrik

city tour through the Spree and park town Cottbus afterwards inspection chocolate fabrik

12:30 Uhr / 12.30 (pm)

Mittagessen in einem „Lausitzer Brauhaus“ /Lunch in one „Lausitzer Brauhaus“

14:30 Uhr / 2.30 (pm)

Besichtigung des „Branitzer Park´s“ / Inspection of the „Branitzer Park“

17:30 Uhr / 5.30 (pm)

Ankunft im Hotel /Arrival at the hotel

19:00 Uhr / 7.00 (pm)

Abendveranstaltung und Buffet inklusive Sektempfang /Buffet and evening event including champagne reception

Sonntag, 25.10.2009 (Sunday, 2009-10-25)

Abreise bis 12:00 Uhr / Departure till 12 o`clock

GETTING THERE

Cottbus is located about 120 km southeast of the downtown Berlin area (approx. 1.5 hours by train).

Cottbus can be accessed by car via the Motorways (Autobahnen) A10, A13 and A15 from Berlin. From Dresden, Cottbus can be accessed via the 'Autobahnen' A4, A13 and the Highway B169. The distance to Dresden is approx. 120 km.

Access by train is possible via, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig from all destinations. Cottbus is connected with several Berlin train stations (Lichtenberg, Hauptbahnhof, Zoologischer Garten) by hourly regional railway traffic.

Confer the timetable service of the 'Deutsche Bahn' for more information:
http://bahn.hafas.de/english.html

public transport in Cottbus, ticket info's etc:
http://www.cottbusverkehr-gmbh.de/

On the website Parkinfo ( http://www.parkinfo.com/ you can search for car parks in Cottbus. It will tell you the location of the parking lots, how many there are, if it's free or not and show you the location on a city map.

Cottbus Fast Facts

In 31 December, 2005, its population was 106,415.

Cottbus is located in the German state of Brandenburg and the area called Lower Lausitz.

Sorbs

In a few rural districts there are local signs written in two languages, because the nation of Sorbs (also known as Wends) have lived there for centuries. To be exactly, there are not only Sorbs living in Brandenburg, also in some places in the Free State of Saxony. Only a minority of the Sorbs living in this area are able to speak the Sorbian language. Some older people still wear traditional costumes or the young generation to preserve old customs. Traditional costumes are decorated with flat stitch embroidery, which is to be found primarily on skirt ribbons, aprons, neck scarves and parts of the large head scarves

ANNUAL EVENTS: Cottbus Carnival

ANNUAL EVENTS: Cottbus Film Festival

Since 1990 the Central and Eastern European film community comes together for 6 days at the Annual Cottbus Film Festival. At the 2008 opening ceremonies, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Cottbus as second only to the Berlinale in terms of its importance as a German film festival. Brandenburg’s Minister President and festival co-patron Matthias Platzeck greeted guests at the festive opening gala held at the Cottbus Staatstheater. The 2008 Cottbus Film Festival featured 136 films from 30 countries and was attended by 500 professionals and over 18,000 guests.