The Falkenberg () lies in the northwestern part of the district of

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

in northern

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 betwe ...

. It is one of the highest points on the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

. In good weather

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

is visible from its summit. It is on the terrain of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

facility, the

Bergen-Hohne Training Area Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: ''NATO-Truppenübungsplatz Bergen'' or ''Schießplatz Bergen-Hohne'') is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers a ...

, in the vicinity of the village of

Becklingen Becklingen is a German village in the Lower Saxon borough of Bergen in the northern part of Celle district on the Lüneburg Heath. Formerly an independent municipality, it is part of the town Bergen since 1971. Geography Becklingen lies about ...

. In 1820 King George IV the United Kingdom tasked the Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Göttingen University, Carl Friedrich Gauss, to survey the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...

. Gauss used the summit of Falkenberg, amongst others, as a

triangulation station A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

for his land surveys. Another central trig point was the Falkenberg (150 m über NN) which lay further south. The

Wilseder Berg At , the Wilseder Berg is the highest point on the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany. Due to its position in the middle of the nature reserve Lüneburg Heath it is a popular tourist destination, especially in the period when the heather is in flo ...

(169 m above NN), further north, was another central trig point as was the

Haußelberg The Haußelberg is a hill, above Normalnull, NN, in the Lüneburg Heath in the north German district of Landkreis Celle, Celle. It is a popular viewing point in the otherwise very flat terrain of the Südheide Nature Park. In 1820 George IV of ...

to the east. The trig points of Haußelberg and Falkenberg, which today are hidden by woods, then lay on open, unforested hilltops, probably surrounded by heath. Not until the large systematic afforestation in the 2nd half of the 19th century did the landscape begin to look like it does today. Part of the triangulation network used for Gauß's survey, depicting the Falkenberg, was represented on the reverse side of the 4th series of 10 Deutschmark banknotes.10DM note, on the reverse side: Sextant and triangulation network (Falkenberg at bottom right)
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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkenberg (Luneburg Heath) Lüneburg Heath Hills of Lower Saxony