Harz
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Harz | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Brocken |
Elevation | 1,141.2 m (3,744 ft) |
Dimensions | |
Length | 110 km (68 mi) |
Area | 2,226 km2 (859 sq mi) |
Geography | |
State | Germany |
grauwacke, granite |
The Harz (German: (971 metres (3,186 ft)) is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony.
Geography
Location and extent
The Harz has a length of 110 kilometres (68 mi), stretching from the town of Seesen in the northwest to Eisleben in the east, and a width of 35 kilometres (22 mi). It occupies an area of 2,226 square kilometres (859 sq mi), and is divided into the Upper Harz (Oberharz) in the northwest, which is up to 800 m high, apart from the 1,100 m high Brocken massif, and the Lower Harz (Unterharz) in the east which is up to around 400 m high and whose plateaus are capable of supporting arable farming.
The following districts (Kreise) fall wholly or partly within the Harz:
The dividing line between Upper and Lower Harz follows approximately a line from
The Harz National Park is located in the Harz; the protected area covers the Brocken and surrounding wilderness area. Approximately 600,000 people live in towns and villages of the Harz Mountains.
Rivers and lakes
Because of the heavy rainfall in the region the rivers of the Harz Mountains were dammed from an early date. Examples of such masonry dams are the two largest: the Oker Dam and the Rappbode Dam. The clear, cool water of the mountain streams was also dammed by early mountain folk to form the various mountain ponds of the Upper Harz waterways, such as the Oderteich.
The 17 dams in the Harz block a total of twelve rivers. Because the Harz is one of the regions of Germany that experiences the most rainfall, its water power was used from early times. Today the dams are primarily used to
→ See
The largest rivers in the Harz are the
Hills
→ See
Climate
Climatically a hill range has lower temperatures and higher levels of precipitation than the surrounding land. The Harz is characterised by regular precipitation throughout the year. Exposed to westerly winds from the Atlantic, heavy with rain, the windward side of the mountains has up to 1,600 mm of rain annually (West Harz, Upper Harz, High Harz); in contrast, the leeward side only receives an average of 600 mm of precipitation per annum (East Harz, Lower Harz, Eastern Harz foothills).
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Brocken (windward)
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Braunlage (windward)
-
Mansfeld (leeward)
Geology and pedology
Origins
The Harz is the most
The formation and
The Harz is a
As a result of the northern fault zone and the vertical or, sometimes even overfolded, geological strata, the geology of the Harz sometimes changes frequently within a relatively small area of just a few square kilometres. As a consequence of this it is also referred to as the "Classic Geological Square Mile" (Klassischen Quadratmeile der Geologie).
There is a room devoted to geology in the Harz Museum in Wernigerode.
Nature
Flora
The vegetation of the Harz mountains is divided into six altitudinal zones:
- Subalpine zone: Brocken summit, over 1,000 m above NN
- Altimontane zone: highest areas (except the Brocken summit) between 850 and 1,000 m above NN
- Mean montane zone: higher areas between 750 and 850 m above NN
- Montane zone: medium height areas between 525 and 750 m above NN
- Submontane zone: lower areas between 300 and 525 m above NN
- Colin zone: areas around the edge of the Harz between 250 and 300 m above NN
Types of woods
Beech woods
From the edge of the Harz to 700 m above
Mixed woods
At intermediate heights of between 700 and 800 m above sea level, mixed woods of spruce (Picea abies) and common beech would predominantly be found under natural conditions. However, apart from a few remnants, these were supplanted a long time ago by spruce stands as a result of deliberate forest management. Sycamore trees are also found in these woods.
Spruce woods
Spruce woods thrive in the highest locations from about 800 m to the tree line at around 1,000 m above sea level. These woods are also home to some deciduous trees such as rowan,
Raised bogs
The
Fauna
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A multitude of wild animals live in the beech forests of the Harz Mountains. Over 5,000 species, most of them insects, have their home in these woods. They include many species that help to decompose leaves and work them into the soil and ground cover, including
A large number of the animals that live in natural spruce forest are suited to the special conditions of life in the higher parts of the Harz. Typical residents amongst the bird population include the crested tit (Parus cristatus), goldcrest and firecrest (Regulus regulus and Regulus ignicapillus), siskin (Carduelis spinus),
In addition to the many species of birds, there is a range of large butterflies in the various spruce woods that, outside of the Harz, are seriously endangered or simply non-existent. Two species will be mentioned here as examples. Gnophos sordarius occurs in old, open wood-reed spruce forest, sometimes in connection with stone runs or bog spruce forests; Enthephria caesiata is a native of the bilberry-rich bog spruce woods.
Only a few animals are able to survive the extreme conditions of the raised bogs. Examples of these are the Alpine emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora alpestris), which only occurs in Lower Saxony in the Harz, and is endangered in Germany, and the Subarctic darner (Aeshna subarctica), a damselfly which is threatened with extinction.
Rocks and stone runs are important habitat components for the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus). The peregrine, which is threatened with extinction here, needs steep rock outcrops with little vegetation. After its population had died out in the Harz, a breeding pair was re-established in the region. A crucial contribution has been made by extensive efforts to promote quiet areas in the ancestral breeding grounds of this shy species. Since 1980, a breeding pair has settled in the eastern Harz as the result of a wildlife reintroduction project. The ring ouzel prefers semi-open stone runs and lightly wooded transition zones between treeless raised bogs and forests. The Harz is home to one of its few, isolated breeding areas in central Europe. Its main distribution area extends across northwest Europe, including large parts of England and Scotland, as well as the high mountains of southern and eastern Europe.
The waterways, with their distinct mountain stream character, play an important role right across the Harz. In comparison with the other natural regions of Lower Saxony, they are still very natural and varied, and the water is very clean. As a result of the high water velocity of the Harz streams, flowers rarely gain a foothold in the water. Even the animals in these streams need to be well suited to high velocities. Only a few species, such as fish, swim actively against the stream. The most common species are
Occasionally the golden-ringed dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltoni) and beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), a type of damselfly, can be seen by streams in the Harz.
The dipper (Cinclus cinclus), which is found everywhere on Harz streams, occurs almost exclusively in the highlands. Its habitat is very fast-flowing, clear mountain streams with wooded banks. It can dive and run under water along the stream bed. It turns stones over in its search for food. The grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) also uses the rich food supplies of the mountain brooks.
In 2000, the lynx was successfully reintroduced by the Harz National Park, and it has since fitted well into the ecology of the region.[1] Through specific conservation measures in past years, the retreat of the bat population in the Harz has been halted. Amongst the mammals that may be hunted are the red deer, roe deer, wild boar and mouflon.
History
The Harz was first mentioned as Hartingowe in an 814 deed by the
The year 968 saw the discovery of
Pre-history and early history
About 700,000 to 350,000 years ago
Many discoveries in the Harz, such as the bronze club of Thale, which was found by the Roßtrappe, could indicate an earlier Celtic occupation of the Harz.[2]
Middle Ages
The
Of more recent origin are settlements whose names end in –rode, a suffix that is first discernable in the Harzgau from the mid-9th century. Where the founders of these villages came from is unknown.
Charlemagne declared the Harz a restricted imperial forest or Reichsbannwald. The Saxon Mirror (Sachsenspiegel), the oldest German law book (Rechtsbuch), probably published around 1220/30 at Falkenstein Castle in the Selke valley, later made the imperial restriction clear: "Whoever rides through the Harz Forest, must unstring his bow and crossbow and keep dogs on a line – only crowned royalty (gekrönte Häupter) are allowed to hunt here". Eike von Repkow's Sachsenspiegel which, for centuries, formed the basis on which German law was administered, described the Harz as a place where wild animals are guaranteed protection in the king's restricted forests. There were three restricted forests, so described, in the state of Saxony, where there was no longer unfettered access for everyone.
This ban did not last forever. Mining, ironworks, water management, increasing settlement, woodland clearances, cattle driving, agriculture, and later tourism all undermined this imperial protection over the centuries.
As early as 1224, monks who had settled in Walkenried bought extensive tracts of forest in the western Harz, to secure economically the one quarter of the Rammelsberg ore profits promised to them by Frederick Barbarossa in 1129. From that it can be deduced that there was already a shortage of wood then. From the 12th to the 14th centuries, large parts of the Harz were managed economically by the Cistercian Abbey of Walkenried. As well as agriculture and fishing, they also controlled the silver mining industry in the Upper Harz and in Goslar.
In the middle of the 14th century, the settlements in the Harz became heavily depopulated as a result of the Black Death, and a systematic resettlement of mining villages in the Upper Harz did not take place until the first half of the 16th century.
16th century until 1933
In 1588, the Nordhausen doctor, Johannes Thal, published the first book on regional flora in the world, Silva hercynia, in which he described the flowers specific to the Harz.
In 1668,
In 1705, the last bear was killed in the Harz, on the Brocken.
The steadily increasing consumption of wood by the pits and smelting works led to overexploitation of the forests and, from about 1700, to their outright destruction. There were no less than 30,000 charcoal piles in the Harz. In 1707, an order by Count Ernst of Stolberg forbade Brocken guides to take strangers or local folk to the Brocken without special permission, and the lighting of fires was forbidden. The first attempts at forest conservation in the Harz were centred on the Brocken, and began with a far-sighted nature conservation act over 275 years ago. In 1718, Count Christian Ernest of the House of Stolberg issued an ordinance in which destruction or damage to the forest on the Brocken would be severely punished. In 1736, Christian Ernest also built the Wolkenhäuschen ("Little House in the Clouds") on the Brocken.
As a young man, the famous German poet, Goethe visited the Harz several times and had a number of important lifetime experiences. These included his walks on the Brocken and his visit to the mines in Rammelsberg. Later, his observations of the rocks on the Brocken led to his geological research. His first visit to the Harz awakened in him a keen interest in science (see Goethes: Wahrheit und Dichtung). In 1777, Goethe climbed the Brocken, departing from Torfhaus. At that time, there was still no mass tourism on the Brocken; in the year 1779 only 421 walkers were recorded. Goethe described his feelings on the summit later, as follows: So lonely, I say to myself, while looking down at this peak, will it feel to the person, who only wants to open his soul to the oldest, first, deepest feelings of truth.
On 23 March 1798, the last wolf was killed in the Harz near the Plessenburg.
The count's guest house on the Heinrichshöhe had become too small and suffered from overcrowding; in 1799 it burned down. In 1800, a new guest house was built on the Brocken to replace it.
Around 1800, large swathes of the Harz were deforested. The less resistant spruce monoculture, that arose as a consequence of the mining industry in the Upper Harz, was largely destroyed by a bark beetle outbreak and a storm of hurricane proportions in November 1800. This largest known bark beetle infestation in the Harz was known as the Große Wurmtrocknis, and destroyed about 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of spruce forest and lasted about for 20 years. The woods were largely reforested with spruce. Continuous problems with bark beetle and storms were the negative side effects of mining in the Harz Mountains.
In 1818, a mounted forester, Spellerberg, from Lautenthal, killed the last lynx in the Harz on the Teufelsberg.
At the start of the 19th century, the increasing changes to the natural landscape wrought by man and the extinction of large mammals like the bear, wolf and lynx raised awareness of the threat to nature.
In 1852, the district administrator of Quedlinburg placed the
Albert Peter laid out the Brocken Garden in 1890. This was the first Alpine flower garden to be established on German soil. And, in terms of its scientific concept and scope, the Brocken Garden was the first of its type worldwide.
The Brocken Railway began service in 1899, against the already strong concerns of conservationists. For example, the botanist, Bley, wanted to prevent trains from climbing the Brocken, because it he felt it would threaten the Brocken's flora.
In 1907, Hermann Löns uttered his famous cry "More Protection for the Brocken" (Mehr Schutz für den Brocken) in light of the mass tourism that was beginning to affect the Brocken. By 1912, he effectively pressed for the establishment of a Harz national park, without calling it such, in Der Harzer Heimatspark (Verlag E. Appelhans u. Co., Braunschweig 1912), a brochure that has remained relatively unknown. The Harz played a special role in the life of the famous regional poet, naturalist and local patriot, undoubtedly not least because his second wife, Lisa Hausmann, came from Barbis in the South Harz.
Around 1920, the
The Wernigerode rector, W. Voigt, wrote, in 1926, in his famous Brockenbuch: In America it has long become the business of the people, to create a sacrosanct haven for the native flora and fauna of the regions in national parks. North and South Germany have their heath and alpine parks. May the joint efforts of the royal authorities, the local police, the Wernigerode Nature Conservation Society and individual friends of the Brocken also succeed now in central Germany, through caring nurture across the board, in establishing and preserving the Brocken too, as a small, but unique, nature reserve for the German people.
In the 1930s, national park planning in Germany became specific again. There were concrete plans for the national parks of the
Nazi Germany and Second World War
During the
In the last weeks of the
Shortly before his death in 2003, American Second World War veteran and organized crime figure, Frank Sheeran, admitted to having participated in a massacre of German POWs in the Harz area. At the time, Sheeran was serving in the 45th U.S. Infantry Division. According to Sheeran, his unit was climbing the Harz when they came upon a mule train carrying supplies to German positions on the hillside. The Americans handed shovels to their prisoners, forced them to dig their own graves, then shot and buried them.[3]
Wernher von Braun, one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany during the Second World War and, subsequently, in the United States, reportedly ordered blueprints of his work to be hidden in an abandoned mine shaft in the Harz range.[4]
Former Inner German border
Until 1990, the Inner German border ran through the western third of the Harz. The Brocken plateau and other peaks near the border were part of a large military out-of-bounds area, which demonstrating walkers first entered on 3 December 1989. Tourism on the Brocken has since then become very intense – about 1.3 million people visit the summit of the Brocken annually. The former out-of-bounds area today has many habitats worth protecting and, as a result, it is being turned into a green belt.
Economy
Historic mining industry
The
In the eastern Harz Foreland (
The last mine in the Upper Harz – the Wolkenhügel Pit in Bad Lauterberg – closed its operations in June 2007 for economic reasons. Having formerly had 1,000 workers, the mine employed just 14 people towards the end, using the most modern technology to extract
Economy today
The booming mining industry of bygone centuries in the Harz region – especially for silver, iron, copper, lead and zinc – has declined markedly. However, the heavy metal residues in the soils of the Upper Harz, which in some cases are significant, represent a serious environmental hazard today.
Copper workings are still important today in the area of
The extensive woods of the Harz mean that
Tourism
Tourism is very important to the Harz, although the prevalence of cheap air travel has led to a decline in recent years. There are many spa towns, and almost every village in the Harz and Harz Foreland caters to tourists. Well-known destinations are the Harz National Park and the Brocken, as well as the historic towns on the edge of the Harz. Concepts like the Western town, Pullman City Harz, or the rock operas on the Brocken are intended to also be particularly attractive to foreign tourists. The Harzer Verkehrsverband (HVV) is responsible for the marketing of the Harz to tourists.
Winter sports
Although winter sport in the Harz does not have the significance of other mountain areas, such as the Thuringian Forest, Ore Mountains, Black Forest or even the Alps, there are plenty of winter sport facilities. Of particular note are the villages and towns of Altenau (including Torfhaus), Benneckenstein, Braunlage (including Hohegeiß), Goslar-Hahnenklee, Hasselfelde, Sankt Andreasberg (including Sonnenberg and Oderbrück) and Schierke. Due to the high altitude and length of their runs, Nordic skiing is very popular. International winter sport competitions take place on the Wurmberg ski jump near Braunlage and the biathlon facility at Sonnenberg.
Also worth mentioning are the many cross-country skiing runs (Loipen) in the Harz. Their quality and features are ensured by the land owners, particularly in the Harz National Park, where snow is still relatively guaranteed during the winter months, and also by individual communities and societies. The Förderverein Loipenverbund Harz, for example, is well known in this regard. It was founded in 1996 on the initiative of the Harz National Park, Harz winter sport parishes, the cable car and lift operators, hotels and transport companies, and has the aim of promoting ski tourism in the Harz and looking after the interests of nature conservation.
The
Summer sports
In summer, the main activity in the Harz, by far, is walking. In recent years Nordic walking has become increasingly popular.
On several
Several hills provide a base for airborne activities, such as
The Harz offers a range of climbing areas like, the Oker valley, with its rock outcrops (Klippen); the Adlerklippen being especially popular.
The Harz has also developed in recent years into a popular mountain bike region, with 62 signed mountain bike routes and four bike parks with lift facilities in Braunlage, Hahnenklee, Schulenberg and Thale. The bike parks offer freeride, downhill and fourcross routes. Both the signed cycle paths and the bike parks are suitable for every level of cyclist.
Roads in the Harz are used by
The Harz Mountain Rescue (Bergwacht Harz) service also operates in summer, rescuing people involved in accidents on difficult terrain.
Walking and climbing
The mountains of the Harz were used in former times for long walks (e. g. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
The Harz is also home to Germany's first naturist hiking trail, the Harzer Naturistenstieg.
In the Oker Valley and at Roßtrappe near Thale, there are rocks on the
Running
The
Dialects of the Harz
The main dialects of the Harz region are
A feature of the Upper Harz is, or was, the Upper Harz dialect (Oberharzer Mundart). Unlike the Lower Saxon, Eastphalian and Thuringian dialects of the surrounding region, this was an Ore Mountain dialect from Saxony and Bohemia, that went back to the settlement of mining folk from that area in the 16th century.
The Upper Harz dialect was used only in a few places. The best known are Altenau, Sankt Andreasberg, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lautenthal and Hahnenklee. Today the dialect is heard only rarely in the Upper Harz in everyday life and it is mainly members of the older generations who still use it, so occasional articles in the local papers are printed in "Upper Harz", which helps to preserve it.
Tourist attractions
Mines and caves
Towns and villages
The following towns and villages are found in or around the Harz region:
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Towns in the Harz Foreland
- Lower Saxony: Alfeld, Bad Gandersheim, Bad Salzdetfurth, Bockenem, Duderstadt, Einbeck, Göttingen, Hildesheim, Northeim, Salzgitter, Vienenburg and Wolfenbüttel.
- Saxony-Anhalt: .
- Thuringia: Heringen/Helme, Nordhausen and Sondershausen.
Abbeys and churches
The
Towers, palaces and castles
The high elevation of many places in the Harz has been used to advantage to erect
Transport
Rail
The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (
Main line railways serve the major towns around the Harz including
Around the Harz a number of railway lines form a ring. They are, clockwise from the north, the
Road
The Harz is grazed by the A 7 motorway in the west and the A 38 in the south. A four-lane motor road, the B 243 runs along the southwestern perimeter of the Harz via Osterode to Bad Lauterberg. In addition there is a good federal road (the B 6, B 4) from Goslar to Braunlage. The North Harz Foreland benefits from the newly built B 6n. Both the B 4 and the B 6n have been upgraded almost to motorway standard. The B 4 crosses the Harz from Bad Harzburg on a north–south axis running through Torfhaus and Braunlage as far as Ilfeld on the edge of the South Harz. The rest of the Harz is also well served by federal roads. Important ones include the Harz high road (Harzhochstraße, the B 242), which crosses the Harz in an east–west direction (from Seesen to Mansfeld) and the B 241, which runs from Goslar in the north over the Upper Harz (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) as far as Osterode in the south.
See also
References
- ^ "Das Luchsprojekt Harz". Retrieved 22 March 2009.
- ISBN 3-8062-1907-9
- ISBN 978-1-58642-077-2. OCLC 54897800] Page 51.
- ISBN 0-00-721299-2.
- ^ Friedhart Knolle: Bergbauinduzierte Schwermetallkontaminationen und Bodenplanung in der Harzregion online
External links
- Media related to Harz at Wikimedia Commons
- Harz travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XI (9th ed.). 1880. pp. 507–508. .
- Harz at Encyclopædia Britannica (in English)
- Homepage of the Harz Regional Association (Regionalverband Harz e.V.) (in German)
- Official tourist homepage (in English)
- Harz National Park (in English)
- Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (Harz Narrow Gauge Railways) (in German)
- Harz at Curlie(in German)
- Blog on the Harz region (in German)
- Adventure Harz - (tourist homepage for the Harz region) (in English)