The Heinrichshöhe is a
subsidiary peak
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...
of the highest mountain in the Harz, the
Brocken
The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. ...
, and, at , it is the second summit in the
Harz Mountains
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 ...
.
Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purposes of research or controlling the wildlife population.
Location
The Heinrichshöhe lies in the
Harz National Park
Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...
about 3.2 kilometres north-northwest of the village of
Schierke
Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode. Situated within the Harz mountain range in the valley of the river Bode, at the rim ...
in the southwestern part of the borough of
Wernigerode
Wernigerode () is a town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the district of Wernigerode. Its population was 35,041 in 2012.
Wernigerode is located southwest of Halberstadt, and is picturesquely s ...
. The summit rises about 1.4 kilometres southeast of the top of the Brocken and at least 205 metres northeast of near the Brocken Road (''Brockenstraße'' or ''Brockenchaussee'', K 1356) between ''Eckernlochstieg'' and ''Urwaldstieg''. Near the summit on its southern flank is the tor of ''Brockentor'' ("Brocken Gate", 1,039.5 m).
''Heinrichshöhe (Gipfel)''
at www.geofinder.ch. Accessed on 9 Dec 2010.
History
The mountain was named after Count Henry Ernest (''Heinrich Ernst'') of Stolberg-Wernigerode, who had a peatworks established on the Heinrichshöhe in 1747. The buildings of the peatworks, including visitors’ accommodation, burnt down in 1799.
The Heinrichshöhe Way (german: Heinrichshöhenweg) is the oldest documented track to the Brocken. It was first mentioned in the records in 1591 and ran roughly parallel to the present day Brocken Road. From the top of the Heinrichshöhe it runs straight to the summit of the Brocken. In the First World War a Ski monument (''Skidenkmal'') was built alongside the track, not far from the Brockenteich
The Brocken Pond (german: Brockenteich) is the name of a waterbody that was created in 1744 in the County of Wernigerode below the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz mountains of Germany. It is located in the present-day dist ...
. It is number 19 in the Harzer Wandernadel
The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...
hiking system.
At the highest point of the mountain there is a roughly 5 m high granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
tor
Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to:
Places
* Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain
* Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city
* Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano
* Tor Bay, Devon, England
* Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
Sc ...
. In 1936 an inscription was carved in the rock by the ''Brockenschutz'' ("Brocken Guard").
The name Brockentor stems from the 18th century when the first Brocken inn was built immediately next to the tor.
The Heinrichshöhe was a popular destination in the Harz until the 1960s. After the wall was built it ended up in the out-of-bounds area. Following the reunification of Germany
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
the Heinrichshöhe Way was closed.
Gallery
File:Heinrichshoehe-schriftzug.jpg, Inscription on the ''Brockentor''
File:Brocken heinrichshoehe.jpg, The Brocken as seen from the Heinrichshöhe (2008).
File:torfhuetten.jpg, Ruins of the peat huts
File:skidenkmal.jpg, Ski monument (''Skidenkmal'') 600 m northwest of the Heinrichshöhe
File:Huetten heinrichshoehe.jpg, Ruins of the peat huts
See also
* List of rock formations in the Harz
This is a list of rock formations in the Harz. They are known as the Harzklippen (literally "Harz crags" or "Harz cliffs") in German, which is the collective name for the, mainly, granite rock outcrops, crags and tors in the Harz moun ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinrichshohe
Mountains of the Harz
Rock formations of the Harz
Mountains and hills of Saxony-Anhalt
One-thousanders of Germany
Rock formations of Saxony-Anhalt