The Spree (German pronunciation:[ˈʃpʁeː]; Sorbian:Sprjewja, Czech:Spréva) is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic. Approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length, it is a left bank tributary of the River Havel, which itself flows into the Elbe and then the North Sea. It is the river on which the original centre of Berlin was built.