Dresden architecture and numerous world-renowned museums and art collections, Dresden has been called "Elbflorenz" (Florence of the Elbe). The incorporation of neighbouring rural communities over the past 60 years has made Dresden the twelfth largest urban district by area in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. The nearest German cities are Chemnitz to the southwest, Leipzig to the northwest and Berlin to the north. Prague, Czech Republic is about to the south and to the east is the Polish city of Wrocław. Dresden is one of the greenest cities in all of Europe, with 63% of the city being green areas
Accession of Hamburg to the German Customs Union (Zollverein) that were previously uncompetitive, now grew extensively. The citizens of Hamburg were driven to make use of articles of German origin much more freely than before, as many of them were cheaper than corresponding foreign articles which were now weighted with a Customs duty. As predicted, the new conditions favoured the development of manufactures in Hamburg itself. With the free port, Hamburg became the leading port in continental Europe and the world's fourth largest after New York, London and Liverpool. This continued the increase of trade prior to the accession, which in 1873- 1887 grew by 44.2%. Nevertheless, outside the