The Harz – Brunswick Land – Eastphalia National Geopark () in central

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 ...

extends from the

Flechtingen Hills The Flechtingen Hills () are a wooded, hilly Highland (geography), upland area up to 179 m high in the northwestern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, named after the town of Flechtingen. Location The Flechtingen Hills are bordered by t ...

in the north to the gypsum karst region on the southern edge 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 ...

and from east to west over the entire width of the mountain range on the territory of the three federal states of

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 ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. It includes

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are pres ...

s and other natural

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s which are the reason why the Harz mountains, the

Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

and the

Drömling Drömling is a sparsely populated depression on the border of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany with an area of about . The larger part belonging to Saxony-Anhalt in the east has been a nature park since 1990. The former swampland was t ...

are destinations for tourists seeking to be close to nature.

History

The idea of establishing a national

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...

emerged from the Eastphalian Open-air and Experience Museum in

Königslutter Königslutter am Elm is a town in the district of Helmstedt in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography It is located on the northeastern slopes of the Elm hill range, within the Elm-Lappwald Nature Park, about east of Brunswick, west of the distr ...

. In 2002 the museum succeeded in engaging the Harz Regional Association and the GUf as partners. The Geopark has information centres in Königslutter,

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the Harz (district), district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg becam ...

and the

Unicorn Cave The Unicorn Cave () is the largest show cave in the West Harz, about northwest of Scharzfeld in the borough of Herzberg am Harz in central Germany. It is a karst cave developed in dolomite strata that is part of the Zechstein. History T ...

. In 2015 it became a

UNESCO Global Geopark UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) are geoparks certified by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council as meeting all the requirements for belonging to the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). The GGN is both a network of geoparks and the agency of the United Nati ...

External links

Website about the Harz - Brunswick Land - Eastphalia Geopark

UNESCO website about Harz, Braunschweiger Land UNESCO Global Geopark

Facebook page for Geopark Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen
Harz Geography of Braunschweig Nature parks in Lower Saxony Regions of Lower Saxony Nature parks in Saxony-Anhalt Nature parks in Thuringia Geoparks in Germany {{SaxonyAnhalt-geo-stub