You see it before you have even left the train. Step out of the main station in Cologne and the cathedral is simply there, impossibly close and impossibly tall, its

In eastern Germany lives the smallest Slavic nation: the Sorbs of Lusatia. An honest portrait of a people who kept their language and customs through a thousand years of foreign rule.

High on a porphyry rock above the town of Altenburg in eastern Thuringia stands a palace whose history stretches from medieval emperors to the dukes of Saxe Altenburg. Altenburg Palace

On a hilltop in the foothills of the Ore Mountains in Saxony, visible from far across the landscape, stands a vast Renaissance palace that locals call the Crown of the

Discover Augustusburg Palace in Bruhl, a dazzling UNESCO rococo masterpiece with a legendary staircase, formal gardens, and a hidden hunting lodge.

In the spa town of Bad Homburg, at the foot of the Taunus hills just north of Frankfurt, stands a palace that has been home to landgraves, kings and emperors.

One family, one village, six centuries. Basedow in the Mecklenburg Switzerland holds a Renaissance palace rebuilt by Stuler, a park by Lenne, a stable like a cathedral and the stories of an astronomer count and a theatre-mad spendthrift.

On a gentle hill south of Weimar, at the end of a long avenue, stands a delightful rococo palace that was the summer retreat of the dukes of Saxe Weimar.

On the southern edge of Dusseldorf, beside a large park that stretches toward the Rhine, stands a pink palace that seems to float on the reflection of its pond. Benrath

On the banks of the Rhine at Wiesbaden, facing the broad river and the vineyards of Rheinhessen beyond, stands one of the most elegant baroque palaces in Germany. Biebrich Palace