Bremen

One axis, from the market square down to the Weser: town hall, Roland and cathedral, then the Kunsthalle and the museums, finally the shipyards, the science sites and the Weserstadion on the river. Town hall and Roland have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since July 2004.

That both still stand took work. Bremen went through 173 air raids; the town hall of 1405 to 1410 survived them because its outer walls were boarded over and fire watches were posted in the wooden roof structure. The Roland of 1404 is the oldest surviving stone Roland, 10.21 metres tall including its canopy.

The Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, built in 1927 by Bernhard Hoetger, is regarded as the first museum anywhere devoted to a woman painter; it holds the Self-Portrait on the 6th Wedding Anniversary of 1906, the first known nude self-portrait by a woman artist. Beck's has been brewing since 27 June 1873 and ships to some 120 countries. The AG Weser shipyard, which used forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners during the war, closed at the end of 1983 after about 1,400 ships; on Walsroder Strasse plaques recall the Mißler camp of 1933. In the 146-metre drop tower, free fall lasts 4.74 seconds.