Bremen
The smallest state in Germany with a population of only 550,392, four famous Town Musicians and a giant
Beside Bremen's 600 year-old townhall stands its landmark bronze statue of a donkey, dog, cat and cockerel, perched one on top of the other. The saying goes that this quartet of animals stopped at a robbers' den outside the town and, climbing on each others' back to sing, frightened away the robbers and so became the town emblem. Bremen's tallest inhabitant is Roland, the 5,55m tall stone giant who has stood in the historic market square since 1404, symbolically guarding freedom and justice, which were particularly important to the merchants and mariners of Bremen, as they ensured good and fair conditions. Bremen, like Riga, Dubrovnik and Prague, and various countries near the Baltic Sea, was part of the Hanseatic League shipping consortium, a type of international trade union. The former member states still bear the name 'Hanse town', as does Bremen.