Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region The Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region (, also "Hauptstadtregion Berlin-Brandenburg") is one of eleven metropolitan regions of Germany, consisting of the entire territories of the city-state of Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg. The region covers an area of with a total population exceeding 6 million. The metropolitan region should be distinguished from Berlin's immediate agglomeration, dubbed "Berliner Umland" () which comprises the city and the nearby Brandenburg municipalities. "Berliner Umland" is significantly smaller and much more densely populated than the metropolitan region, accounting for the vast majority of the region's population over a fraction of its total
Brandenburg Gate of Beethoven at the then newly opened Brandenburg Gate. In the concluding choral movement of the symphony, the famous "Ode to Joy", the word "Freude" ("Joy") was replaced with "Freiheit" ("Freedom") to celebrate the fall of the Wall and the imminent reunification of Germany. On 2–3 October 1990, the Gate was the scene of the official ceremony to mark the reunification of Germany. At the stroke of midnight on 3 October, the black-red-gold flag of West Germany—now the flag of a reunified Germany—was raised over the Gate. On 12 July 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke at the Gate about