Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially import ...

in the east 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 ...

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 has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially important cities nearby, Brunswick and

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

. Further, Gifhorn is part of the Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region. The Municipality Gifhorn includes the villages of Gamsen, Gifhorn, Kästorf, Neubokel, Wilsche and Winkel.

Sights

Gifhorn is home to the

International Wind- and Watermill Museum The International Windmill, Wind- and Watermill Museum (), at Gifhorn in the German state of Lower Saxony, is the only one of its kind in Europe. On the museum's open-air site, which covers an area of around , there are currently 16 mills from 12 ...

, which contains a comprehensive collection and working replicas of the world's most common windmills. The castle in the town centre was built in a

Weser Renaissance Weser Renaissance is a form of Northern Renaissance architectural style that is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany and which has been well preserved in the towns and cities of the region. Background Between the star ...

style from 1526 to 1533. ''Kavalierhaus'' (Cavalier House) is a renaissance building dating from 1546. Saint Nicolai Church is a

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

aisleless church An aisleless church () is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...

which was built from 1734 to 1744. Around the Market Place various well-preserved half-timbered houses built in the 16th and 17th centuries can be visited, e.g. the Old Town Hall with impressive wood sculptures dating from 1562. Some houses have interesting

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

s. House no. 2 in Steinweg street, called ''Höfersches Haus'' and dating from 1570, is considered to be one of the oldest houses in town.

Geography

Gifhorn lies at the confluence of the Rivers

Ise Ise may refer to: Places *Ise, Mie, a city in Japan **Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie * Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria * Ise, Norway, a village in Norway *Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan *River Ise, a tributary of the ...

and Aller. Gifhorn is situated about north of the city of Brunswick and about west of Wolfsburg. In the city, the Bundesstraße 4 and 188 meet. At the northern end of the city, the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...

starts.

History

The oldest verifiable source attests the existence of the city in the year 1057. It was located at the crossing of two then important merchant routes: the ''salt street'' () being a main trading route for

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

between

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

and Brunswick, and the ''grain street'' () transporting

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

between Celle and

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

. Market rights were certified by

John, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg John ( – 13 December 1277), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1252 until his death. He initially reigned jointly with his brother, Albert the Tall, until the partition of the duchy in 1269, when John became th ...

in 1275. Gifhorn was destroyed in the

Hildesheim Diocesan Feud The Hildesheim Diocesan Feud () or Great Diocesan Feud, sometimes referred to as a "chapter feud", was a conflict that broke out in 1519 between the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim ('' Hochstift Hildesheim'') and the principalities of Brunswick- ...

(1519-1523) and rebuilt afterwards. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

it suffered again severe destruction. The southern part of Gifhorn, a densely populated area, was devastated by a fire in 1669, and the northern part in 1725. Afterwards Gifhorn was rebuilt keeping an appropriate distance between the buildings. Gifhorn obtained

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 ...

in 1852 when it had about 2,500 inhabitants. During World War II the town remained undamaged.

Education

Schools in Gifhorn include the

Humboldt Gymnasium Europaschule Humboldt-Gymnasium is a '' Gymnasium'' (high school) in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the second high school in the town after Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium and was founded in 1979. As of 2002 it had about 1000 students and 70 teachers, ...

, the

Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Europaschule Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium is a '' Gymnasium'' (high school) in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, 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 t ...

, Fritz-Reuter-Realschule, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Realschule, Albert-Schweitzer-Hauptschule and the Berufsbildenden Schulen I and II. Alfred-Teves-Schule, which was called Volksschule Süd between 1954 and 1958, was open between 1954 and 2010.

Transport

The Gifhorn railway station where trains from and to

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

and

stop is in the southern part of the town. A smaller railway station, "Gifhorn Stadt" station with direct connections to

Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...

and Brunswick, is in the centre on the Brunswick–Uelzen railway line. In the city, the Bundesstraße 4 and 188 meet.

The Bells Palace

''Glocken-Palast'', or The Bells Palace, is a monument and large building in Gifhorn. It was completed after 16 years of construction, combining various Russian timber building styles. Its cornerstone was laid by former Russian president

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

in 1996. It was built as a centre to promote cultural exchange across Europe, following the fall of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

. The Bells Palace will host events and exhibitions celebrating peace, freedom and cultural diversity.

Twin towns – sister cities

Gifhorn is twinned with: *

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, United Kingdom *

Gardelegen Gardelegen (; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde (river), Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical c ...

, Germany *

Hallsberg Hallsberg () is a bimunicipal locality and the seat of Hallsberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 7,122 inhabitants in 2010. It is also partly located in Kumla Municipality. Overview This settlement grew up around a railway junction, ...

, Sweden *

Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi ( ) is a small List of cities in Ukraine, city located in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city res ...

, Ukraine *

Xanthi Xanthi is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...

, Greece

Notable people

* Heinrich Decimator (c. 1544 – c. 1615), clergyman, author of a universal dictionary (1st edition 1580: German, Latin and Greek, later Hebrew and French added) *

Thorsten Heins Thorsten Heins (born 29 December 1957) is a German-Canadian businessman and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of BlackBerry. He stepped down as CEO of BlackBerry and was replaced by John Chen on November 4, 2013. Heins later was the CEO of ...

(born 1957), manager * Anna Montanaro (born 1973), musical actress and actress * (born 1974), journalist and newsreader (ZDF) * Katharina Marie Schubert (born 1977), theater and film actress * Fabian Klos (born 1987), footballer * Senta-Sofia Delliponti (born 1990), actress and singer *

Bjarne Thoelke Bjarne Thoelke (born 11 April 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre back for 1. FC Saarbrücken. Club career On 18 June 2012, it was announced that Thoelke went on a two-year loan deal to Dynamo Dresden until June 2014 ...

(born 1992), footballer *

Luis Michael Dörrbecker Luis Michael Dörrbecker Rebollar (born 1 September 1993) is a Mexican racing driver. Career Dörrbecker started his racing career in 2003, when he was fifteenth in the Super Karts Cup México. In both 2005 and 2006 he won the championship. Furt ...

(born 1993), Mexican racing driver

References

External links

* *
International museum of mills
{{Authority control