Braunlage () is a town and
health resort
A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs. In the era before modern biochemistry and pharmaco ...
in the
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Goslar (district), district of Goslar and is located on the northwestern wikt:slope, slopes of the Harz ...
district 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 ...
in
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 ...
. Situated within 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 ...
mountain range, south of the
Brocken
The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is a mountain near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, between the rivers Weser River, Weser and Elbe. The highest peak in the Harz mountain range, and in Northern Germany, ...
massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
. Nearby ski resorts include the Sonnenberg and the slopes on the
Wurmberg.
Geography
Braunlage is located on the
Warme Bode
The Warme Bode is the right-hand headstream of the Bode (river), Bode in the High Harz mountains of central Germany in the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It is long and is formed by the confluence of the Große Bode and Kleine Bode riv ...
, a headstream of the river
Bode, close to the border with
Elend in the state of
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 ...
. The municipal area stretches along the south-eastern rim of the
Harz National Park
Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the Germany, German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg am Harz, Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern ...
from an elevation of up to at the summit of the Wurmberg. Other peaks in the vicinity include the
Achtermannshöhe
At , the Achtermannshöhe (also just called the Achtermann) in the Harz National Park is the third highest mountain in Lower Saxony and the fourth highest in the Harz, Harz mountains.
It lies in the unincorporated area of Harz (Landkreis Goslar), ...
and the
Hahnenklee Crags.
Districts
The town consists of three districts:
* Braunlage proper
*
Hohegeiß*, incorporated on 1 July 1972
*
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 ...
**, incorporated on 1 November 2011
* with the village of Königskrug
** with the villages of
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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alp ...
,
Oderhaus,
Oderbrück,
Oderberg,
Odertaler Sägemühle and
Silberhütte
Transportation
Braunlage is on the ''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...
''
B4 between
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
and
Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to:
*Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany
** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district
** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city
*Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen)
* Narost, ...
and the
B27 from
Blankenburg to
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
.
Local buses run between Braunlage and the nearby communities of
Bad Harzburg
Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a spa town in central Germany, in the Goslar (district), Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa ...
, Sankt Andreasberg,
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 ...
,
Wernigerode
Wernigerode () is a town in the Harz (district), district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the Wernigerode (district), district of Wernigerode. Its population was 32,181 in 2020.
Wernigerode is located southwes ...
, Hohegeiß,
Bad Sachsa
Bad Sachsa is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was one of the few municipalities in West Germany that imported electric power from former East Germany. This was done via Neuhof Substation.
Geography
Bad ...
, Nordhausen,
Bad Lauterberg
Bad Lauterberg is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km southwest of Braunlage, and 20 km southeast of Osterode am Harz.
Bad Lauterberg is known ''inter alia ...
,
Herzberg and
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locate ...
.
Braunlage used to be served by the
South Harz Railway Company, which provided a link to the
Harz Narrow Gauge Railways
The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (German: ''Harzer Schmalspurbahnen'' or HSB) is a railway company that operates a network in the Harz mountains, in central Germany (formerly East Germany – officially the German Democratic Republic). The compan ...
via
Sorge, but service ceased in 1958.
Climate
History
First mentioned as ''Brunla'' in 1227, the town started out as a pit settlement in the Harz forests. It appeared as ''Brunenlo'' in a 1253 register of the
Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
counts of
Regenstein and was revived when their successors, the
Counts of Blankenburg, established an
ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloome ...
here in 1561. With the extinction of the Blankenburg dynasty in 1599 Braunlage fell to the
Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
In the 17th century it was a small Brunswick
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
in the west corner of the former Blankenburg lands. Tourism developed from the late 19th century onwards and other branches of business were forestry and a large
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...
quarry on the Wurmberg. Around 1910 one of the first interurban bus lines ran from Bad Harzburg up to Braunlage, served by
Büssing
Büssing AG was a German bus and truck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) in Braunschweig. It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with the Brunswick Lion emblem were w ...
vehicles. The Wurmberg Ski Jumps were erected in 1922 (demolished in 2014). In 1934 Braunlage received
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
and municipal status as a health resort.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Braunlage was close to the fortified
inner German border
The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...
through the Harz mountains. In 1963 it became the location of the
Wurmberg Gondola Lift
The Wurmberg Gondola Lift () is a monocable gondola lift with a length of , built in 1963, leading from the Braunlage tourist resort within the Harz mountain range on the top of the high Wurmberg mountain.
The lift is considered as the longes ...
, today with a length of and a height difference of to the summit station the longest in
Northern Germany
Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...
. On 7 May 1964
Gerhard Zucker demonstrated a flight of
mail rockets on the
Hasselkopf hill. One of them exploded, killing two spectators.
Since
German reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
in 1990 Braunlage has again been in the centre of the Harz tourist region but it has had to cope with growing competition from the neighbouring resorts in Saxony-Anhalt.
Demographics
Politics
Town council
Seats in the town council (''Stadtrat'') as of 2016 local elections:
*
Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 7
* ''Bürgerliste'' (
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
): 5
*
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...
(SPD): 4
Culture and sights
A museum of local history covers Braunlage's tradition as a health resort and official venue of the
International Ski Federation
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation () until 26 May 2022 when the name was cha ...
(FIS). The townscape includes extensive spa gardens
Sports
The local ice-hockey team ''Harzer Wölfe'' is an important part of the north German ice-hockey culture.
There used to be several ski jumps on the Wurmberg, which hosted international competitions such as the
FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup
The FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup is a series of ski jumping competitions arranged yearly by the International Ski Federation. It is considered the second level of international ski jumping, ranking below the World Cup and not counting Grand P ...
until 2011. Between 2009 and 2012 the
Braunlage Nude Sledging World Championships were held.
Sights
The
Silberteich and the ''
Hahnenkleeklippen'' on the way to Sankt Andreasberg are popular tourist destinations.
The
Dicke Tannen is a
protected landscape
IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The enlisting of such areas is part ...
of giant spruce trees near Hohegeiß.
References
External links
*
Braunlage Tourism
{{Authority control
Goslar (district)
Towns in the Harz
Duchy of Brunswick