The Großer Knollen (also the Groß Knollen; colloquially referred to as the Knollen, historically the ''Grosze Knolle'') is a mountain in the southwestern part of the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, 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'' der ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

The Großer Knollen is located northeast of Herzberg am Harz and Scharzfeld, northwest of Bad Lauterberg im Harz and south of the hamlet of Sieber. It is surrounded by several other mountains and hills that range in height between 550 and 650 m above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. Just under 1 km away to the southwest the

Kleiner Knollen The Kleiner Knollen is a 631 metre high mountain in the southwestern part of the Harz in the German state of Lower Saxony. Geography The Kleiner Knollen is located east of Herzberg am Harz, northeast of Scharzfeld, northwest of Bad Laut ...

rises to a height of 631 m.

Geology

The Großer Knollen is a

porphyritic Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning ...

volcano. When climbing the mountain walkers can see to the side of the path in places the reddish colouring in the rock that is due to the volcanic rock, porphyry. About 800 metres east of the Großer Knollen is the ''Knollengrube'' ("Knollen Pit"), in which iron ore was mined in 1925.

Observation tower

From the roughly 20 m high

observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

, which stands next to the inn on the summit of the Großer Knollen, there is a view not only over the mountain peaks of the Harz, but also southwards to the Rotenberg and

Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; 'Oak-field') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called , 'lower Eichsfeld') and northwest of the state of Thuringia (, 'upper Eichsfeld') in the south of the Harz mountains in Germany ...

. In good conditions visitors can even see as far as the

Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German language, German ) is a mountain range in the southern parts of the Germany, German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorg ...

to the south.

Walking

Numerous walking trails radiate from the summit, including paths to Bad Lauterberg, Herzberg, Scharzfeld, Sieber and

Sankt Andreasberg Sankt Andreasberg () is a former independent city in the Goslar (district), district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it has formed part of the town Braunlage. It is situated in the Harz, approximately west of Braunlage ...

. The roughly 12 km long path to Sankt Andreasberg runs over a crest over 600 m high with many wonderful views. The Großer Knollen is checkpoint no. 150 in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...

walking trail network.

Forest

Today the lower flanks of the Großer Knollen are mainly covered by beech, but some spruce also grows in higher areas. In 1596 it was entirely covered in beech woods, in 1630 there were also some sycamores.Ina Begemann: ''Palynologische Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Umwelt und Besiedlung im südwestlichen Harzvorland (unter Einbeziehung geochemischer Befunde)'', Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultäten der Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen, Göttingen 2003, p. 46
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Sources

* Topographic map 1:25,000 series, No. 4328 Bad Lauterberg im Harz * Topographic map 1:25,000 series, No. 4228 Riefensbeek (to determine the isolation and prominence)

References

External links

Information about the Großer Knollen

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knollen, Grosser Mountains of Lower Saxony Mountains of the Harz Osterode (district)