The Spree ( / ʃ p r eɪ , s p r eɪ / S(H)PRAY , German: [ʃpʁeː] ; Sorbian languages : Sprjewja , Lower Sorbian: [ˈsprʲɛwʲa] , Upper Sorbian: [ˈspʁʲɛwʲa] ; Czech : Spréva [ˈsprɛːva] ; in Lower Sorbian also called Rěka ) is a river in Germany and the Czech Republic . With a length of approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi), it is the main tributary of the Havel River. The Spree is much longer than the Havel, which it flows into at Berlin - Spandau ; the Havel then flows into the Elbe at Havelberg . The river rises in the Lusatian Highlands , in the Lusatian part of Saxony , where it has three sources: the historical one called Spreeborn in the village of Spreedorf [ de ] , the water-richest one in Neugersdorf , and the highest elevated one in Eibau . The Spree then flows northwards through Upper and Lower Lusatia , where it crosses the border between Saxony and Brandenburg . After passing through Cottbus , it forms the Spree Forest ( German : Spreewald ), a large inland delta and biosphere reserve. It then flows through Lake Schwielochsee before entering Berlin, as Müggelspree [ de ] ( pronounced [ˈmʏɡl̩ˌʃpʁeː] ).
24-543: Treptower Park ( pronounced [tʁɛptoːɐ] , with a silent w ) is a park alongside the river Spree in Alt-Treptow , in the district of Treptow-Köpenick , south of central Berlin . It was the location of the Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin in 1896. It is a popular place for recreation of Berliners and a tourist attraction. On 14 July 1987 it was used by British band Barclay James Harvest for
48-592: A Louvre on the Spree . The federal government pledged $ 20 million a year through 2010 for projects to enhance Berlin's prestige and Unesco declared the island a World Heritage Site . The contents of the museums were decided on as follows: The Pergamon, with the Greek altar that gives it its name, retained much of its collection and was defined as a museum of ancient architecture. The Neues Museum presented archaeological objects as well as Egyptian and Etruscan sculptures, including
72-571: A stretch of about 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of and flowing through Fürstenwalde, the river forms part of the Oder-Spree Canal . On this reach, and on the reach west of the confluence with the River Dahme at Köpenick, the river forms part of secondary commercial link between Berlin and the River Oder and hence Poland . The canal diverges from the Spree just east of Fürstenwalde and later joins
96-472: A strung-out exhibition room for interdisciplinary presentations. The Archaeological Promenade may be characterized as a cross-total of the collections that are shown separately (in accordance with cultural regions, epochs, and art genres) in the individual museums of the Island. The Archaeological Promenade will address multi-focus topics that have occupied the human mind irrespective of time and cultural region, be it
120-561: Is an island in the Spree. In 2004 the Badeschiff floating swimming pool opened on the Spree in Berlin. Small craft, such as punts , are widely used in wetlands of the Spreewald. Larger craft can reach as far upstream as Leibsch, although the upper reaches are relatively shallow and are generally only used by leisure craft. Some intermediate reaches are unnavigable and by-passed by canals. For
144-831: Is the main river of Berlin, Brandenburg, Lusatia, and the settlement area of the Sorbs , who call the river Sprjewja ; the name derives ultimately from Proto-Germanic * spreutaną "to spring forth". For a very short distance close to its sources, the Spree constitutes, as Spréva , the border between Germany and the Czech Republic . The Spree's longest tributaries are Dahme (confluence in Berlin- Köpenick ) and Schwarzer Schöps ( Čorny Šepc ; confluence in Boxberg/O.L. - Sprey [ de ] ), other well-known tributaries (since they are Berlin rivers) are Panke and Wuhle . It rises in
168-868: The Alte Nationalgalerie , the Bode-Museum and the Pergamonmuseum . As the Museum Island designation includes all of Spree Island north of the Karl Liebknecht Boulevard, the historic Berlin Cathedral is also located there, next to the open Lustgarten park. To the south of Liebknecht Boulevard, the reconstructed Berlin Palace houses the Humboldt Forum museum and opened in 2020. Also adjacent, across
192-883: The Berlin State Museums branch of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . Museum Island further comprises the Lustgarten park and the Berlin Cathedral . Between the Bode and Pergamon Museums it is crossed by the Stadtbahn railway viaduct. The adjacent territory to the south is the site of the former royal and imperial Berlin Palace and the Palace of the Republic . The Prussian collections became separated during
216-496: The Berlin State Museums , that occupy the Spree island's northern part. In 1999, the museum complex was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites because of its unique testimony to the evolution of museums as a social and cultural phenomena and the corresponding development of museum architecture. Nearby: A first exhibition hall was erected in 1797 at the suggestion of the archaeologist Aloys Hirt . In 1822, Schinkel designed
240-644: The Lusatian Mountains and flows north through Bautzen and Spremberg . In the Spreewald the river passes through the towns of Lübbenau , Lübben and Leibsch . Just below Leibsch, the Dahme Flood Relief Canal diverts water from the Spree to run into the River Dahme at Märkisch Buchholz . The Spree continues north from Leibsch before flowing into the Neuendorfer See at the northern edge of
264-582: The Pushkin Museum in Moscow . As for the city's major museums, it took much of the 1990s for a consensus to emerge that Museum Island's buildings should be restored and modernized, with General Director Wolf-Dieter Dube's cautious plan for their use finally approved in January 1999. Then, six months later, Peter-Klaus Schuster took over and set in motion a far more ambitious program intended to turn Museum Island into
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#1732851444721288-562: The Bode, and a new annex, and Museum Island will present all art from the ancient civilizations to 1900. The James Simon Gallery , a $ 94 million visitors' center designed by the British architect David Chipperfield , is being built beside the Neues Museum. It will in turn be linked to the Neues, Altes, Pergamon and Bode Museums by an underground passageway decorated with archaeological objects. Once
312-501: The Cold War during the division of the city, but were reunited after German reunification , with the exception of some art and artifacts removed after World War II by Allied troops . These include the Priam's Treasure , also called the gold of Troy , excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1873, then smuggled out of Turkey to Berlin and smuggled out of Germany to Moscow. Today it is kept at
336-718: The Museum Island Master Plan is completed, the so-called Archaeological Promenade will connect four of the five museums on the Museum Island. The Promenade will begin at the Old Museum in the south, lead through the New Museum and the Pergamon Museum and end at the Bode Museum, located at the northern tip of the Island. Before World War II, these museums were connected by bridge passages above ground; they were destroyed due to
360-437: The River Dahme at the (lake) Seddinsee . In Berlin, the Spree forms part of a dense network of navigable waterways, many of which are artificial, and which provide a wide choice of routes. Several important commercial harbors can be found on this network, and tugs and barges move sand, grain, bricks, and beer. Tour boats tour the central section of the Spree and its adjoining waterways on a frequent basis. Many people died in
384-460: The Spree during the Cold War while trying to cross the Berlin Wall , including children who drowned when rescuers were not allowed to enter the river to save them. Museum Island The Museum Island ( German : Museumsinsel ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin , Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of
408-803: The Spree is where it is best known. It flows through the city centre of Berlin to join the River Havel in Spandau , one of Berlin's western boroughs, which itself ultimately merges with the Elbe to enter the sea in Cuxhaven , after flowing through Hamburg . On its route through Berlin, the river passes Berlin Cathedral ( Berliner Dom ), the Reichstag and the Schloss Charlottenburg . The renowned Museum Island ( Museumsinsel ), with its collection of five major museums ,
432-572: The Spreewald. From the Neundorfer See it then flows in an easterly direction to the Schwielochsee , and then in a northerly and westerly direction to the town of Fürstenwalde . From Fürstenwalde the river continues to flow westwards, through the Dämeritzsee and Müggelsee , to Köpenick in the southeastern part of Berlin , where it is joined by its tributary, the River Dahme. The final reach of
456-414: The effects of the war. There have never been plans to rebuild them; instead, the central courts of individual museums will be lowered, which has already been done in the Bode Museum and in the New Museum. They will be connected by subterranean galleries. In a way, this archaeological promenade can be regarded as the sixth museum in the Island, because it is devised not only as a connecting corridor but also as
480-844: The first ever open-air concert by a western rock band in the German Democratic Republic . Its prominent feature is the Soviet War Memorial (sometimes translated as the "Soviet Cenotaph"), built to the design of the Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky to commemorate the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945. It was opened four years after the war ended, on May 8, 1949 . 52°29′18″N 13°28′11″E / 52.48833°N 13.46972°E / 52.48833; 13.46972 Spree (river) The Spree
504-618: The most important museum sites in Europe . Originally built from 1830 to 1930, initially by order of the Prussian Kings , according to plans by five architects, the Museum Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 because of its testimony to the architectural and cultural development of museums in the 19th and 20th centuries. It consists of the Altes Museum , the Neues Museum ,
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#1732851444721528-503: The plans for the Altes Museum to house the royal Antikensammlung , the arrangement of the collection was overseen by Wilhelm von Humboldt . The island, originally a residential area, was dedicated to "art and science" by King Frederick William IV of Prussia in 1841. Further extended under succeeding Prussian kings, the museum's collections of art and archeology were turned into a public foundation after 1918. They are today maintained by
552-545: The renowned bust of Queen Nefertiti . The Altes Museum, the oldest on the island, displayed Greek and Roman art objects on its first floor and hold exhibitions on its second floor. The Bode Museum's paintings went from Late Byzantine to 1800. And, as now, the Alte Nationalgalerie will cover the 19th century. Once this process is completed, perhaps by 2020, the Gemäldegalerie's painting collection will be transferred to
576-548: The west branch of the Spree is the German Historical Museum . Since German reunification , the Museum Island has been rebuilt and extended according to a master plan. In 2019, a new visitor center and art gallery, the James Simon Gallery (by a sixth architect), was opened within the Museum Island heritage site. The Museum Island is so-called for the complex of internationally significant museums , all part of
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