Stade, officially the Hanseatic City of Stade is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district which bears its name. It is located roughly 45 km (28 mi) to the west of Hamburg and belongs to that city's wider metropolitan region. Within the area of the city are the urban districts of Bützfleth, Hagen, Haddorf and Wiepenkathen, each of which have a council of their own with some autonomous decision-making rights.
View of the historic harbour in Stade
1572 drawing of Stade. "S. Cosmus" and "S. Wilhat" refer to St. Cosmae et Damiani Church and St. Wilhadi, respectively.
Stade in 1640 (drawing by Matthäus Merian)
New harbor during the 1894 flooding
Hamburg Metropolitan Region
The Hamburg Metropolitan Region is a metropolitan area centred around the city of Hamburg in northern Germany, consisting of eight districts in the federal state of Lower Saxony, six districts in the state of Schleswig-Holstein and two districts in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern along with the city-state of Hamburg itself. It covers an area of roughly 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) and is home to more than 5.1 million inhabitants.
Hamburg
Hamburg City Hall (Rathaus), seat of the Hamburg Senate