Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is located in the southwestern part of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountains. Its

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (german: Technische Universität Clausthal, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology ('' Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small publ ...

. The health resort is located in the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (german: Oberharz, ) refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, ...

at an altitude between 390 and 821 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

Geography

Clausthal-Zellerfeld is located on the Upper Harz Plateau. The environment is less mountainous compared to most of the Harz, but only hilly. As a result, the immediate surrounding area is less wooded and there are more meadow areas. Scattered in and around Clausthal-Zellerfeld are numerous dams and streams of the

Upper Harz Water Regale The Upper Harz Water Regale (german: Oberharzer Wasserregal, ) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the ...

. The depression between Clausthal and Zellerfeld marks a natural "borderline". Southwest extends the "Small Clausthal valley".

City districts

Altenau Altenau () is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is situated in the middle of the Harz mountains, between Clausthal-Zeller ...

- Schulenberg im Oberharz (since 2015) * Buntenbock (since 1972) * Clausthal-Zellerfeld * Wildemann (since 2015)

History

Clausthal-Zellerfeld originally consisted of two towns which were merged in 1924 to form an administrative unit. Clausthal is well known for the old

and its magnificent buildings, while Zellerfeld is a typical tourist

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

for

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histo ...

and winter sportsmen. Clausthal-Zellerfeld is the largest town in the area that is situated in the mountains rather than on the edge.

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

in the area began in the 16th century. Modern

wire rope Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is several strands of metal wire twisted into a helix forming a composite '' rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of such laid rope in ...

was invented to service the

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

mines in the 1830s by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before and soon found its way into diverse applications, including most notably,

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

s. The

Innerste Valley Railway The Innerste is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine river and in length. Origin of the name The river name is not related to the German word ''innerste'' meaning innermost. ''Innerste'', in earlier times c ...

was inaugurated in 1877 and extended to Altenau in 1914. The large station building and 70 other buildings in the town were destroyed in an air raid on 7 October 1944.Evert Heusinkveld. ''Die Innerstetalbahn Langelsheim - Altenau'', p. 11. Nordhorn 2007 92 people lost their lives. Mining activity halted in 1930 because the ore deposits were exhausted. Today, there are large remains of mines in the surrounding Harz region, some of which are now

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

s. The railway line was closed in 1976. The former railway station, which was rebuilt from 1961–1963 after being destroyed in 1944, houses the tourist information and the municipal library today. The

was established in 1775 for the

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

of mining

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the li ...

. Today, it is a technical university for teaching

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

(especially chemistry, materials science and physics) and

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource management, ...

Politics

Town council

2006 local elections: * SPD: 19 seats * CDU: 9 seats * FDP: 3 seats * UWG: 2 seats (independent electors community)

Culture and sights

* Oberharzer Wasserwirschaft (Upper Harz Water Management)

Museums

Upper Harz Mining Museum The Upper Harz Mining Museum (german: Oberharzer Bergwerksmuseum, ) is a museum of technological and cultural history in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the Harz mountains of central Germany. It is one of the oldest technological museums in Germany and ...

* GeoMuseum of Clausthal University of Technology

Buildings

* Plants of

* Market Church in Clausthal, the largest wooden church in Germany with 2,200 seats, built 1639-42. Tower dating from 1637. * Old pharmacy ''Bergapotheke'' in Zellerfeld, built in 1674, with wood carvings * Protestant Salvator Church in Zellerfeld, built 1674-83 * Clausthal mint (1617–1849) * Oberbergamt building in Clausthal, built 1726-30 * Dietzel House in Zellerfeld, dating from 1674 * Former railway station, destroyed 1944 and rebuilt 1961-63 * House where Robert Koch was born

Infrastructure

The retail trade is mainly located in the main center around Adolph-Roemer-Straße in the Clausthal district. Small-scale retail can be found in the side center in the Zellerfeld district. At the beginning of 2000, an area at the former Ostbahnhof was designated as a special location for large-scale retail. Further supermarkets can be found at the northern exit of Zellerfeld. Overall, the retail trade in the former mountain town is not very well developed and is now suffering from the general decline in shops. The development of the Clausthal University of Technology is of great importance for the mining town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, as it increases the attractiveness and attraction of the location for innovative investments. The development of the TU Clausthal and the cooperation between local companies and science is a decisive advantage for the business location. In addition to the usual craft businesses, there is a relatively large window factory as well as several companies spun off from the Clausthal University of Technology or CUTEC, which specialize primarily in particle measurement technology in testing technology. Tourism is another important branch of the economy in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, but above all in its districts Altenau, Buntenbock, Schulenberg and Wildemann.

Traffic

From 1877 to 1976, Innerstetalbahn trains ran from the station to Altenau and Langelsheim . Today the public transport is served by several bus lines, u. a. to Goslar, Osterode am Harz, Altenau and Sankt Andreasberg.

Public facilities

* State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology with the Lower Saxony Mountain Archive * CUTEC, Clausthal Environmental Technology Research Center * State Construction Management South Lower Saxony * Local fire brigades in the districts Altenau, Clausthal- Zellerfeld, Buntenbock, Schulenberg and Wildemann *

Education

In addition to the primary and secondary school facilities, Clausthal-Zellerfeld also houses the School of Economics and Technology and the Clausthal University of Technology . The facilities of the TU are concentrated on the ''Feldgraben area'' campus as well as distributed in the Clausthal city area and on the ''Tannenhöhe''. Primary school: * Clausthal primary school * Wildemann primary school * Elementary school Zellerfeld Further Training * Gymnasium Robert Koch School (open all-day school) * Clausthal-Zellerfeld secondary and secondary school

Persons

People from Clausthal-Zellerfeld

* Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf (1695-1777), printer and publisher * Heinrich Halfeld (1797-1873), engineer *

Carl Adolf Riebeck Carl Adolf Riebeck, originally Carl Adolph Riebeck (27 September 1821 in Clausthal – 28 January 1883 in Halle) was an industrialist and mining entrepreneur. The controversy around his sole possession after his death led to the establishment of A ...

(1821-1883), industrialist and mining entrepreneur *

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the bacteri ...

(1843–1910), microbiologist *

Otto Erich Hartleben Otto Erich Hartleben (3 June 1864 – in Clausthal; 11 February 1905 in Salò) was a German poet and dramatist from Clausthal, known for his translation of ''Pierrot Lunaire''. Childhood, Education and Marriage Orphaned as a child, Hartlebe ...

(1864–1905), poet and dramatist * Robert Förster (1913-1984), diplomat * Helmut Sander (1920-1988), mayor of Goslar * Reinhard Roder (born 1941), football player, coach and -functionary * Dietrich Grönemeyer (born 1952), physician *

Daniel Böhm Daniel Böhm (also spelled Boehm, born 16 June 1986 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld) is a former German biathlete. In 2009, he completed his first single World Cup Race. Career highlights ;World Cup :2009, Vancouver-Whistler, 3rd at team relay (with ...

(born 1986), biathlete

Notable people associated with Clausthal-Zellerfeld

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...

(1681–1767), composer Sommerfeld1897

* Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782–1859), mineralogist * Wilhelm Albert (1787–1846), mining administrator and inventor *

Friedrich Adolph Roemer Friedrich Adolph Roemer (15 April 1809 – 25 November 1869), German geologist, was born at Hildesheim, in the Kingdom of Westphalia. His father was a lawyer and councillor of the high court of justice. In 1845 he became professor of mineralogy ...

(1809–1869), geologist *

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretic ...

(1868–1951), theoretical physicist *

Helmut Kleinicke Helmut Kleinicke (; 19 November 1907 – 1979) was a German engineer who supervised construction projects near Auschwitz concentration camp and saved Jews during the Holocaust. Kleinicke was named Righteous Among the Nations in 2018; he is one ...

(1907-1979), engineer at Auschwitz concentration camp who saved Jews during the Holocaust

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Clausthal-Zellerfeld is twinned with: *

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction o ...

, France

Gallery

File:Foerdergeruest Headframe Ottiliae Schacht von 1876.jpg, Steel headframe of Ottiliae shaft; Clausthal-Zellerfeld. This is the oldest still-existing headframe in Germany, built in 1876 File:Aula academica clausthal.jpg, Aula Academica File:Clausthal-Zellerfeld St. Salvatoris 01.jpg, Salvatoris church File:Clausthal-zellerfeld oberbergamt bergbauarchiv.jpg, Mining Office file:Clausthal-Zellerfeld Marktkirche 01.jpg, View on Marktkirche

References

External links

clausthal-zellerfeld.de
* * {{Authority control Towns in Lower Saxony Goslar (district) Towns in the Harz Mining communities in Germany