Oldenburg, Germany

Oldenburg sits on the Hunte river in Lower Saxony, Germany, where roughly 175,000 residents live in a city first documented in 1108. The 1607 Oldenburg Castle served as the seat of the Counts of Oldenburg, a dynasty that produced kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Greece, and through marriage shaped the British House of Windsor. The 1837 Oldenburg State Theatre stages drama alongside Low German plays performed by the 1830 August-Hinrichs-Bühne, while the 1919 Horst Janssen museum honours the local graphic artist. On the city's edge, the 1986 770-hectare Eversten Holz ranks among the largest municipal forests in Germany.