Seesen is a town and municipality in the district of Goslar, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the

Harz The Harz () 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'' derives from the Middle High German w ...

mountain range, approx. west of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different p ...

History

The

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country ( Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the No ...

settlement of ''Sehusa'' was first mentioned in a 974 deed issued by Emperor Otto II and Chancellor Willigis, from 1235 on it belonged to the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg who had a castle erected. In 1428 Seesen 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 ...

by Duke Otto II the One-Eyed of Brunswick-Göttingen. On 17 July 1810, Israel Jacobson dedicated in Seesen the first synagogue which employed an organ and a choir during prayer and introduced some German liturgy. This day is celebrated by

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

worldwide as its foundation date. In 1836 Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later named Henry E. Steinway) built his first grand piano in his kitchen in Seesen; the instrument is today on display at New York's

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

of Art.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Stadtrat'') as of 2006 elections: * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 17 * Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 15 *

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP): 2

Twin towns – sister cities

Seesen is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Wantage, England, United Kingdom (1978) *

Thale Thale () is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany. Located at the steep northeastern rim of the Harz mountain range, it is known for the scenic Bode Gorge stretching above the town centre. Geography The town is situated ...

, Germany (1990) * Carpentras, France (1993) *

Montecorvino Rovella Montecorvino Rovella (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. History In 269 BC the Romans defeated the Picentes from the Adriatic Coast and founded a colony transplanting them ...

, Italy (2006)

Notable people

Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz (16 July 1809 – 14 April 1877) was a Prussian general who served in the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. Biography Voights-Rhetz was borned in Seesen in the Duchy of Brunswick, then part of ...

(1809–1877), Prussian general, born in Seesen * Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908), piano manufacturer, spent his last years at the Mechtshausen vicarage * Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (1848–1890), cellist, composer and university teacher, born in Seesen * Israel Jacobson (1768–1828), established the first ''

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Eu ...

'' interdenominational school in Germany at Seesen in 1801 *

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conducting, conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten Sy ...

(1784–1859), composer that spent his childhood at Seesen * William Steinway, Piano manufacturer that was born at Seesen on 5 March 1835 as ''Wilhelm Steinweg''. His father Henry E. Steinway (''Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg'') built his first grand piano at a Seesen washkitchen in 1836 * Emil Wohlwill (1835–1912), chemist, born at Seesen

References

{{Authority control Towns in the Harz Duchy of Brunswick

History

Politics

Twin towns – sister cities

Notable people

See also

References