Brandenburg, Germany

Brandenburg an der Havel sits on the Havel River about 70 km west of Berlin and is home to roughly 72,000 residents. Albert the Bear founded the Margraviate of Brandenburg here in 1157, making the city the historical cradle of a state that shaped medieval Germany. Cathedral Island holds the 1161 Brandenburg Cathedral, one of the oldest brick Gothic churches in the region, while the 1474 St. Catherine's Church rises on 22-metre vaulting. The medieval Old Town preserves one of Germany's oldest surviving town walls, dated to 1170, and early 20th-century industry arrived with the 1927 Steel Mill and 1936 aviation works.