The Panke is a small

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, a right

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Spree, originating from the

Barnim plateau The Barnim Plateau is a plateau which is occupied by the northeastern parts of Berlin and the surrounding federal state of Brandenburg in Germany. Boundaries and Subdivision Boundaries The limits of the plateau are easily definable. The souther ...

. It has a length of 29 km, of which 20,2 are within the area of Berlin. Consequently, the Panke is the third longest river in the city after the Spree and the

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the States of Germany, states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. The long Havel is a right tributary of the Elbe. However, the direct distance from ...

. Several areas in Berlin and Brandenburg are named after the Panke, including

Pankow Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...

and

Panketal Panketal is a municipality in the district of Barnim, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 15 km northeast of Berlin (centre). History Panketal emerged in 2003 by merging the municipalities Zepernick and Schwanebeck. Since 1996, the pop ...

Course

It is in length with its source in the northeast of

Bernau bei Berlin Bernau bei Berlin (English ''Bernau by Berlin'', commonly named Bernau) is a town in the Barnim district in Brandenburg in eastern Germany, located about northeast of Berlin. History Archaeological excavations of Mesolithic-era sites indicate th ...

. The headwaters were overbuilt with the construction of the railway from Berlin to Stettin in 1842, today the Panke waters leak beneath the railroad embankment. The river flows southwestwards parallel to the railway line through the Bernau town centre and reaches the municipal border with

, underpassing the Bundesautobahn 11. South of Panketal, the river crosses the border of Brandenburg with Berlin, where it traverses the

borough from north to south, running through the locality of

Buch Buch (the German word for book or a modification of the German word '' Buche'' for beech) may refer to: People * Buch (surname), a list of people with the surname Buch - mostly, in India or abroad as of Indian origin. Geography Germany * Buch ...

, where it underpasses the

Bundesautobahn 10 is an ring road, orbital motorway around the German capital city of Berlin. Colloquially called ''Berliner Ring (Berlin Beltway)'', it is predominantly located in the state of Brandenburg, with a short stretch of in Berlin itself. It should ...

(''Berliner Ring'') and forms the border with the Berlin locality of Karow and the western border of Karow and Blankenburg with

Französisch Buchholz Französisch Buchholz (), also known simply as Buchholz, is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow. History First mentioned in 1242 as ''Buckholtz'' in a document, it became the property of Frederick ...

. Joined by the Schmöckpfuhlgraben ditch the Panke runs between the

and

Niederschönhausen Niederschönhausen (, literally "Lower Schönhausen") is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow in Berlin, Germany. It is also known as "Pankow-Schönhausen" to differ it from Alt-Hoh ...

localities through the gardens of

Schönhausen Palace Schönhausen Palace () is a Baroque palace at Niederschönhausen, in the borough of Pankow, Berlin, Germany. It is surrounded by gardens through which the Panke river runs. The palace is maintained by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundatio ...

and passes

Majakowskiring The Majakowskiring (named after Vladimir Mayakovsky) is an ellipse-shaped street in the Pankow district of Berlin, Germany, in the Niederschönhausen locality. It was famous as the residence of many senior figures in the government of the Ger ...

. The final stretches of the lower Panke run through Berlin's

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

districts of Gesundbrunnen and

Wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

, where it is canalised and partly underground. Pedestrian walkways run alongside the river -or near it- for lengthy stretches. Nowadays it has two mouths, a northern one into the ''Nordhafen'' port of the

Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal Spandau () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin, Germany's capital and largest city, in the homonymous borough (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. The historic city is situated, for the most part, on the western banks of the river Havel. As of 2020, the e ...

, and another, considerably smaller one directly into the Spree River in

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

close to the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...

theater. The Mitte section behind the ''

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is ...

'' (BND) headquarters (the former site of the ''

Stadion der Weltjugend Stadion der Weltjugend was a multi-use stadium in the locality of Mitte in the eponymous borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. It was inaugurated on 20 May 1950 by the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht for the first "De ...

'') is currently renaturated as an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

component.

External links

{{Authority control Rivers of Berlin Rivers of Brandenburg Rivers of Germany