Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Weser-Jade-Nordsee

Near the Weser and the Wilhelm-Kaisen-Brücke stands the Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Weser-Jade-Nordsee. From here, Germany's federal waterways and shipping administration runs the region's rivers and keeps the traffic on them safe. Red, hand-struck facing bricks cover a three-storey block, a six-storey one and the connecting building between them. The ensemble went up between 1953 and 1955, to a design by Friedrich Wilhelm Kraemer and Ernst Sieverts.

In 1974 the BDA Prize went to the building, honoured for the way it blends traditional and modern elements. It has stood under monument protection since 1999. The office is younger than its home: three predecessors, in Bremen, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, merged into one on 8 April 2019.

The office's reach stretches along the Weser from the border with Lower Saxony to Brake, and along the Hunte to Oldenburg. The Lesum and the Wümme belong to it as well. So do sections of the Ochtum, the Delme and the Küstenkanal. Locks and weirs come with the territory, among them the Weserwehr in Bremen-Hemelingen and the Oldenburg lock. Day and night, a traffic control centre watches and steers the shipping, fed by a land radar chain of seven stations. For your visit, the site is wheelchair accessible. And small craft in its area carry identification numbers with the letters HB.