The Christianental is a

side valley Side valleys and tributary valleys are valleys whose brooks or rivers flow into greater ones. Upstream, the valleys can be classified in an increasing order which is equivalent to the usual orographic order: the tributaries are ordered from ...

of the Mühlental in the borough of

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 ...

in the

Harz Mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, 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 nam ...

of central Germany. It lies between the Agnesberg, the hill on which

Wernigerode Castle Wernigerode Castle () is a schloss located in the Harz mountains above the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The present-day building, finished in the late 19th century, is similar in style to Neuschwanstein Castle, Schloss Neuschwanst ...

stands, and the Fenstermacherberg. The Christianental is known countrywide for its wildlife park, the forest restaurant at the head of the valley along with the indoor shooting range (''Schützenhaus'') and the master fisherman's house (''Fischmeisterhaus'') and neighbouring

forester's lodge A forester's lodge, forester's house or forester's hut is the residence of a forester, usually one who is in charge of a forest district. History Woodcutters' huts are as old as forestry itself. To begin with, temporary accommodation was usually ...

at the bottom of the valley. The latter was featured in the title of the novel ''Das Forsthaus im Christianental'' by Käthe Papke. The Christianental inn and the Agnesberg are checkpoint nos. 31 and 32 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 ...

hiking network. Between the inn and the indoor range there is a monument to the county highways inspector (''Kreiswegemeister''), Otto Plachta.

History

Until the 18th century the Christianental was called the ''Tillental'' or ''Dillenthal''. It belonged to the wildlife park of the

counts of Stolberg The County of Stolberg () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz mountain range in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg. The town of Stolberg was probably founded in the 12th c ...

and was named after the ruling count,

Christian Ernest of Stolberg-Wernigerode Christian Ernest, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode, (2 April 1691, Gedern – 25 October 1771, Wernigerode) was a German politician and a member of the House of Stolberg. From 1710 to 1771 he governed County of Wernigerode in the Harz mountain ...

. By around 1800 the so-called ''Jennyhaus'' was built here. It was followed by a log cabin in the Tyrolean style, in which the zookeeper lived. As a secondary income this place put up visitors during the summer. From that emerged the present forest restaurant.

External links

Website of the Christianental Wildlife Park

Website of the Christianental Society
{{Coord, 51.826253, N, 10.80765, E, type:landmark_dim:1000_region:DE-ST, display=title, format=dms Wernigerode