Vierlande is the name given to a roughly 77-square kilometre region in the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

district of

Bergedorf Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994. History The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...

which has a population of 18,419 Source: Office of Statistics, 2009
/ref> and comprises four quarters of the city. Its name goes back to the year 1556 and refers to the four

church parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es of

Curslack Curslack () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Bergedorf. It is located in the eastern part of the borough, which lies in the southeast of Hamburg. Name The name derives from ''Cuwerslake'', meaning low swampland, which is heav ...

Kirchwerder Kirchwerder () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Bergedorf. It is located on the southeast border of Hamburg at the Elbe river. Geography Kirchwerder is a part of the Vierlande and is located at the Elbe river. Therefore it is ...

, Neuengamme and Altengamme which are identical with their modern-day quarters.

Geography

The Vierlande consists of former river islands in the ''

urstromtal An ''urstromtal'' (plural: ''Urstromtäler'') is a type of broad glacial valley, for example, in northern Central Europe, that appeared during the ice ages, or individual glacial periods of an ice age, at the edge of the Scandinavian ice sheet and ...

'' of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

History

The populace of Vierlande were free farmers, but sovereignty over the whole region frequently changed hands. From the 12th century it belonged to the dukes of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg, called ''Niedersachsen'' (Lower Saxony) between the 14th and 17th centuries), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296–1803 and again from 1814–1876 in the extreme sou ...

who, due to a shortage of money, enfeoffed it to the Hanseactic cities of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, and, in 1401, repossessed it without returning the pledge money. The Vierlande - Bergedorf and Riepenburg - was, however, reconquered by the two cities in 1420 and, as a result of the

Treaty of Perleberg A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

managed jointly for a long time until in 1868, it was taken over by Hamburg. Part of Kirchwerder remained, however, an exclave of the Prussian county of Harburg until the enactment of the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

in 1938. Altengamme is first mentioned in the records in 1188; Neuengamme ("New Island") and Kirchwerder in 1212, and Curslack in 1217. Vierlaender Tracht Hamburg 1900

Dyke construction

The first dykes were constructed in the 12th century as part of land reclamation.

Museums

The Rieckhaus is built in the style of a Fachhallenhaus and is an open-air museum in Curslack. It is part of the Bergedorf Museum Landscape, which also manages the regional museum, the "Museum for Bergedorf and the Vierlande" in Bergedorf Castle.

Literature

* Torkild Hinrichsen: ''Natur - Kultur. Ein Lehrstück aus den Vierlanden''. In: ''Lichtwark-Heft'' No. 72, Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf 2007, . * Harald Richert: ''Hutständer - eine Besonderheit der Vierländer Kirchen''. In: ''Lichtwark-Heft'' No. 69, Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf 2004, . * H. Schween: ''Zur Geschichte der Vierlande''. In: ''Lichtwark'' Nr. 11., 1. Jahrg., Hrsg. Lichtwark-Ausschuß, Bergedorf 1949. Siehe jetzt: Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf. * Achim Sperber: ''Vier- und Marschlande, Land hinterm Deich''. Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1981, . * Ludwig Uphoff: ''Die Vierlande und der Vierländer''. In: ''Lichtwark'' Nr. 7, Hrsg. Lichtwark-Ausschuß, Bergedorf 1953. Siehe jetzt: Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf. * Kulturbehörde/Denkmalschutzamt Hamburg (Herausgeber): ''Vier- und Marschlande''. Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1986, . * Hamburger Sparkasse (publisher): ''Hamburg von Altona bis Zollenspieker''. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2002, . * Gundula Hubrich-Messow: ''Sagen und Märchen aus Hamburg''. Husum-Verlag, Husum 2002, .

References

{{Authority control Geography of Hamburg Marshes