Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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 ...

. It is located 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 ...

mountains. Its

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology ('' Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small public university is regularly ranked amon ...

. The health resort is located in the

Upper Harz The Upper Harz (, ) is the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, the term Upper Harz cover ...

at an altitude between 390 and 821 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

Geography

Clausthal-Zellerfeld is located on the Upper Harz Plateau. The surrounding area is less mountainous compared to most of the Harz. As a result, the adjacent area is less wooded and there is more pasture land. Scattered in and around Clausthal-Zellerfeld are numerous dams and streams belonging to the

Upper Harz Water Regale The Upper Harz Water Regale (, ) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region ...

. The depression between Clausthal and Zellerfeld marks a natural "borderline". Southwest extends the "Small Clausthal valley".

City districts

Altenau Altenau () is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is situated in the middle of the Harz mountains, between Clausthal-Zellerf ...

Schulenberg im Oberharz Schulenberg im Oberharz () is a village and a former municipality in the district of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has been part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located ...

(since 2015) *

Buntenbock The small village of Buntenbock lies on the plateau of the Harz mountains in Germany and is part of the mining and university town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is a state-recognised climatic health resort and has accommodation for 200 visitors as ...

(since 1972) * Clausthal-Zellerfeld *

Wildemann Wildemann () is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has been part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld since January 1, 2015. It is situated in the west of the Harz, northwest of Clausthal-Zellerfel ...

(since 2015)

History

Clausthal-Zellerfeld originally consisted of two towns which were merged in 1924 to form an administrative unit. Clausthal is well known for the old

and its magnificent buildings, while Zellerfeld is a typical tourist

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

for hikers and winter sportsmen. Clausthal-Zellerfeld is the largest town in the area that is situated in the mountains rather than on the edge.

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

in the area began in the 16th century. Modern

wire rope Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is composed of as few as two solid, metal wires twisted into a helix that forms a composite ''rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of ...

was invented to service the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

s in the 1830s by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before and soon found its way into diverse applications, including most notably,

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

s. The

Innerste Valley Railway The Innerste () is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine river and in length. Origin of the name The river name is not related to the German word ''innerste'' meaning innermost. ''Innerste'', in earlier time ...

was inaugurated in 1877 and extended to Altenau in 1914. The large station building and 70 other buildings in the town were destroyed in an air raid on 7 October 1944.Evert Heusinkveld. ''Die Innerstetalbahn Langelsheim - Altenau'', p. 11. Nordhorn 2007 92 people lost their lives. Mining activity halted in 1930 because the

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

deposits were exhausted. Today, there are large remains of mines in the surrounding Harz region, some of which are now

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

s. The railway line was closed in 1976. The former railway station, which was rebuilt from 1961–1963 after being destroyed in 1944, houses the tourist information and the municipal library today. The

was established in 1775 for the

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

of mining

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

. Today, it is a technical university for teaching

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

(especially chemistry, materials science and physics), computer science and

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource manageme ...

Politics

Town council

2006 local elections: *

SPD 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 wi ...

: 19 seats * CDU: 9 seats * FDP: 3 seats * UWG: 2 seats (independent electors community)

Culture and sights

* Oberharzer Wasserwirschaft (Upper Harz Water Management)

Museums

Upper Harz Mining Museum The Upper Harz Mining Museum (, ) is a museum of technological and cultural history in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the Harz mountains of central Germany. It is one of the oldest technological museums in Germany and concentrates on the history and p ...

* GeoMuseum of Clausthal University of Technology

Buildings

* Plants of

* Market Church in Clausthal, the largest wooden church in Germany with 2,200 seats, built 1639-42. Tower dating from 1637. * Old pharmacy ''Bergapotheke'' in Zellerfeld, built in 1674, with wood carvings * Protestant Salvator Church in Zellerfeld, built 1674-83 * Clausthal mint (1617–1849) * Oberbergamt building in Clausthal, built 1726-30 * Dietzel House in Zellerfeld, dating from 1674 * Former railway station, destroyed 1944 and rebuilt 1961-63 * House where Robert Koch was born

Infrastructure

The retail trade is mostly located in the main center around Adolph-Roemer-Straße in the Clausthal district. Small-scale retail can be found in the side center in the Zellerfeld district. At the beginning of 2000, an area at the former Ostbahnhof was designated as a special location for large-scale retail. Further supermarkets can be found at the northern exit of Zellerfeld. Overall, the retail trade in the former mountain town is not very well developed and is now suffering from the general decline in shops. The development of the Clausthal University of Technology is of great importance for the mining town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, as it increases the attractiveness and attraction of the location for innovative investments. The development of the TU Clausthal and the cooperation between local companies and science is a decisive advantage for the business location. In addition to the usual craft businesses, there is a relatively large window factory as well as several companies spun off from the Clausthal University of Technology or CUTEC, which specialize primarily in particle measurement technology in testing technology. Tourism is another important branch of the economy in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, but above all in its districts Altenau, Buntenbock, Schulenberg and Wildemann.

Traffic

From 1877 to 1976, the Langelsheim–Altenau (Oberharz) railway ran trains from the station to

and

Langelsheim Langelsheim () is a town in the Goslar (district), district of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography The municipality is situated between the river Innerste and its tributary the river Grane (river), Grane, on the northern edge of the Harz ...

. Today the public transport is served by several bus lines that travel to

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 ...

Osterode am Harz Osterode am Harz (, ), often simply called Osterode (Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Ostroe''), is a town in south-eastern Lower Saxony in central Germany on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It was the seat of government of the ...

, Altenau 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 ...

Public facilities

* State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology with the Lower Saxony Mountain Archive * CUTEC, Clausthal Environmental Technology Research Center * State Construction Management South Lower Saxony * Local fire brigades in the districts Altenau, Clausthal- Zellerfeld, Buntenbock, Schulenberg and Wildemann *

Education

In addition to the primary and secondary school facilities, Clausthal-Zellerfeld also houses the School of Economics and Technology and the

. The facilities of the TU are concentrated on the ''Feldgraben area'' campus as well as distributed in the Clausthal city area and on the ''Tannenhöhe''. Primary school: * Clausthal primary school * Wildemann primary school * Elementary school Zellerfeld Further Training * Gymnasium Robert Koch School (open all-day school) * Clausthal-Zellerfeld secondary and secondary school

Persons

People from Clausthal-Zellerfeld

Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf (2 March 1695 in Clausthal, now Clausthal-Zellerfeld – 26 March 1777 in Leipzig) was a German printer and publisher, and founder of the publisher that became Breitkopf & Härtel. In 1714 he moved to Leipzig and wor ...

(1695-1777), printer and publisher *

Heinrich Halfeld Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Halfeld, also known in Portuguese as Henrique Guilherme Fernando Halfeld, (23 February 1797 – 22 November 1873) was a German engineer. He was born in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Kingdom of Hanover, and studied at the ...

(1797-1873), engineer * Carl Adolf Riebeck (1821-1883), industrialist and mining entrepreneur *

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( ; ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he i ...

(1843–1910), microbiologist and

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

Otto Erich Hartleben Otto Erich Hartleben (3 June 1864 – in Clausthal; 11 February 1905 in Salò) was a German poet and dramatist from Clausthal, known for his translation of '' Pierrot Lunaire''. Childhood, Education and Marriage Orphaned as a child, Hartleb ...

(1864–1905), poet and dramatist * Robert Förster (1913-1984), diplomat * Helmut Sander (1920-1988), mayor of

* Reinhard Roder (born 1941), former football player for

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

, manager for Tennis Borussian Berlin *

Dietrich Grönemeyer Dietrich H. W. Grönemeyer (born 12 November 1952) is a German professor of medicine and one of the inventors of Microtherapy.SMST-2004: proceedings of the International Conference on Shape - 2006 - Jörn Richter and Dietrich Grönemeyer, Institu ...

(born 1952), physician *

Daniel Böhm Daniel Böhm (also spelled Boehm, born 16 June 1986 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld) is a former German biathlete. In 2009, he completed his first single World Cup Race. Career highlights ;World Cup :2009, Vancouver-Whistler, 3rd at team relay (with ...

(born 1986), biathlete, Silver Olympic Medalist in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Notable people associated with Clausthal-Zellerfeld

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

(1681–1767), composer Sommerfeld1897

Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (22 February 1782 – 26 December 1859) was a German mineralogist. Biography He was born in Hannover and educated in Göttingen, where he obtained a PhD. Two years after making a geological tour of Denmark, Norwa ...

(1782–1859), mineralogist * Wilhelm Albert (1787–1846), mining administrator and inventor *

Friedrich Adolph Roemer Friedrich Adolph Roemer (15 April 1809 – 25 November 1869), German geologist, was born at Hildesheim, in the Kingdom of Westphalia. His father was a lawyer and councillor of the high court of justice. In 1845 he became professor of mineralogy ...

(1809–1869), geologist *

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in Atomic physics, atomic and Quantum mechanics, quantum physics, and also educated and ...

(1868–1951), theoretical physicist * Helmut Kleinicke (1907-1979), engineer at Auschwitz concentration camp who saved Jews during the Holocaust

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Clausthal-Zellerfeld is twinned with: *

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction ...

, France

Gallery

File:Foerdergeruest Headframe Ottiliae Schacht von 1876.jpg, Steel headframe of Ottiliae shaft; Clausthal-Zellerfeld. This is the oldest still-existing headframe in Germany, built in 1876 File:Aula academica clausthal.jpg, Aula Academica File:Clausthal-Zellerfeld St. Salvatoris 01.jpg, Salvatoris church File:Clausthal-zellerfeld oberbergamt bergbauarchiv.jpg, Mining Office file:Clausthal-Zellerfeld Marktkirche 01.jpg, View on Marktkirche

References

External links

clausthal-zellerfeld.de
* {{Authority control Towns in Lower Saxony Goslar (district) Towns in the Harz Mining communities in Germany