Sankt Andreasberg is a former town in the district of Goslar, in

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 betwe ...

. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Braunlage. It is situated in 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 ...

, approximately 7 km west of Braunlage proper, and 20 km east of Osterode am Harz.

History

Sankt Andreasberg was founded in the 1480s. It was first mentioned in a letter from the Count Heinrich zu Stolberg to Dietrich von Witzlebenon on 3 November 1487. The establishment of the village took place around the market. The first silver mines are assumed to be the St. Andrews Cross Mine (german: Grube St. Andreaskreuz) at the foot of the ''Beerberg'' and the St. Andrews Mine (''Grube St. Andreas'') by the market. In 1521, St. Andreasberg received the right to mine from Counts Heinrich and Ernst von Hohenstein. It was proclaimed in Mansfelder Land and in the mining areas of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and miners were invited to dig for silver and other metals.

Natural monuments

The area around Sankt Andreasberg is especially rich in habitats worthy of protection in within the Harz National Park, but also around the town in the form of Upper Harz mountain meadows. In the national park north-northwest of Sankt Andreasberg are the ''Dreibrodesteine'' (at ca. ;Harzer Wandernadel
Stempelstelle 154 – ''Dreibrodestein''
auf harzer-wandernadel.de ; ND GS 43), three outsize blocks of

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 ...

that have been formed by spheroidal weathering. According to legend they originated as the three loaves of bread of a heartless woman who would not help a starving miner. With the words ("I'd rather my three loaves became stones") she spurned the miner, whereupon the loaves grew into giant stones and squashed the woman into the mossy earth. The granite blocks were considered a warning against heartlessness. At the ''Dreibrodesteine'' is checkpoint no. 154 (''Dreibrodestein'') in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking system and a memorial to the foresters and officials of the Andreasberg Forestry Office who fell in the two world wars. Other natural monuments are a group of chestnuts on the market square (ND GS 42) and the

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-graine ...

deposit in the village of Silberhütte (ND GS 45).

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

researched in 1783 the Hohe Klippen rocks (ND GS 146) on the Rehberg mountain above the present-day Goethe Place on the Rehberger Graben ditche, because he believed he would find evidence there for his assumptions about the earth's history. The boundary between the geological platform made of greywacke hornfels and the underlying fine-grained Brocken granite runs by the Hohe Klippen.

Religion

The population of Sankt Andreasberg is mostly Protestant.

Sport

As a result of their elevation, Sankt Andreasberg (520–720 m) and

Sonnenberg Sonnenberg is a municipality in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, 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, a ...

(800–850 m) still have fairly guaranteed snow. Sankt Andreasberg is an ''Alpine Ski Centre of the Harz'', with three

T-bar lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

s on the Sonnenberg as well as two double chair lifts and three T-bars at the Matthias Schmidt Mountain Centre. In the Teichtal there is the first snowtubing track in the Harz. The cross-country skiing trail network around Sankt Andreasberg has 40 km of tracks and is linked from the Sonnenberg to Oderbrück/Torfhaus and to the Ackerloipe/Altenau networks. On Matthias Schmidt Mountain a

Sommerrodelbahn A summer toboggan is an amusement or recreational ride which uses a bobsled-like sled or cart to run down a track usually built on the side of a hill. There are two main types: an Alpine coaster or mountain coaster is a type of roller coaster ...

is open during the summer.

Nordic Walking Nordic walking is a Finnish-origin total-body version of walking that can be done both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles similar to s ...

hiking 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 Histor ...

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

and trekking are popular summer activities in the peaceful surroundings of the Sankt Andreasberg mountain town. In the spa park there is a ropes course and climbing park. The southern part of the Oderteich reservoir in the Harz National Park is open to swimmers in the summer. Coming from Torfhaus and Oderteich, the Brocken bypass section of the nearly 100 km long

Harzer Hexenstieg The Harz Witches' Trail (german: Harzer Hexenstieg) is a footpath, just under 100 km long, in Germany that runs from Osterode through the Harz mountains and over its highest peak, the Brocken, to Thale. It is a project by the Harz Transpo ...

hiking trail passes through the town and heads for Braunlage and Thale. Mountain rescue services are provided by the local Harz Mountain Rescue Club. Several Sankt Andreasberg sports clubs enjoy a long tradition. These include the Sankt Andreasberg Shooting Club (1522) and the Sankt Andreasberg Gymnastics and Sports Club (1861). Following the success of the 1st Winterfest in 1896 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, th ...

Ski Club was founded on the Brocken; it is now called the St. Andreasberg Ski Club 1896.

Famous people

Wilhelm Trute Heinrich Friedrich Trute called Wilhelm Trute (; March 5, 1836October 20, 1889) was a German miner and breeder of singing canaries, the Harz Roller. Biography Wilhelm Trute was born in 1836 in Sankt Andreasberg as the only child of Georg Conrad ...

(1836–1889), breeder of the

Harz Roller Harz Roller (german: link=no, Harzer Roller ) is the name of a breed of domestic canary bred in the Upper Harz mountains of Germany. The birds were bred in the Upper Harz between Lautenthal and Sankt Andreasberg in the middle of the 19th cen ...

canary breed and a local Miner

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns in Lower Saxony Goslar (district) Towns in the Harz Natural monuments in Lower Saxony Mining communities in Germany