Goslar

Geography

Goslar is situated in the middle of the upper half of Germany, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Brunswick and about 70 km (43 mi) southeast of the state capital, Hanover. The Schalke mountain is the highest elevation within the municipal boundaries at 762 metres (2,500 feet). The lowest point of 175 m (574 ft) is near the Oker river. Geographically, Goslar forms the boundary between the Hildesheim Börde which is part of the Northern German Plain, and the Harz range, which is the highest, northernmost extension of Germany's Central Uplands. The Hildesheim Börde is characterised by plains with rich clay soils – used agriculturally for sugar beet farming – interlaced with several hill ranges commonly known as the Hildesheim Forest and Salzgitter Hills. In the northeast the Harly Forest stretches down to the River Oker, in the east, Goslar borders on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Immediately to the south the Harz range rises above the historic borough at a height of 636 m (2,087 ft) at Mt Rammelsberg. Extended forests dominate the landscape. The major rivers crossing the municipal boundaries are the Oker with its Gose/Abzucht and Radau tributaries. The eponymic River Gose originates approximately 9 kilometres (6 miles) south-west of Goslar at the Auerhahn Pass (638 m (2,093 ft)) east of the Bocksberg mountain. At the northern foot of the Herzberg (632 m (2,073 ft)) it meets the smaller Abzucht before it flows into the Oker. The Dörpke and Gelmke also flow from the Harz foothills to the south into the Goslar municipal area, where they discharge into the Abzucht.

Neighbouring municipalities

(Clockwise from the north): Liebenburg, Schladen-Werla (Wolfenbüttel District), Osterwieck (Harz District, Saxony-Anhalt), Bad Harzburg, Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Oberharz), and Langelsheim.

Town districts

The town currently consists of 18 districts (Stadtteile):

History

Iron ore mining has been common in the Harz region since Roman times; the earliest known evidence for quarrying and smelting is from the 3rd century AD. Ancient burial objects made of Harz ore have even been discovered during excavations in England. The settlement on the Gose creek was first mentioned in a 979 deed issued by Emperor Otto II; it was located in the Saxon homelands of the Ottonian dynasty and probably a royal palace (Königspfalz) already existed at the site. It became even more important when extensive silver deposits were discovered at the nearby Rammelsberg, today a mining museum. The name's toponymy probably comes shortened from "Goselager", of the stream "Gose" on the northern edge of the Harz Mountains, and Lager.

When Otto's descendant Henry II began to convene Imperial synods at the Goslar palace in 1009, Goslar gradually replaced the Royal palace of Werla as a central place of assembly in the Saxon lands, a development that was again enforced by the Salian (Franconian) emperors. Conrad II, once elected King of the Romans, celebrated Christmas 1024 in Goslar and had the foundations laid for the new Imperial Palace (Kaiserpfalz Goslar) the next year.

Goslar became the favourite residence of Conrad's son Henry III, who stayed at the palace about twenty times. Here he received King Peter of Hungary as well as the emissaries of Prince Yaroslav of Kiev and here he appointed bishops and dukes. His son and successor Henry IV was born here on 11 November 1050. Henry also had Goslar Cathedral erected and consecrated by Archbishop Herman of Cologne in 1051. Shortly before his death in 1056 Emperor Henry III met Pope Victor II in the church, emphasizing the union of secular and ecclesiastical power. His heart was buried in Goslar, his body in the Salian family vault in Speyer Cathedral. Of the cathedral only the northern porch survived; the main building was torn down in the early 19th century.

Under Henry IV Goslar remained a centre of Imperial rule. However conflicts intensified such as in the violent Precedence Dispute at Pentecost 1063. While Henry aimed at securing the enormous wealth deriving from the Rammlesberg silver mines as a royal demesne, the dissatisfaction of local nobles escalated with the Saxon revolt of 1073–1075. In the subsequent Saxon revolt of 1077–1088 the Goslar citizens sided with anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who held a princely assembly here in 1077, and with Hermann of Salm, who was crowned king in Goslar by Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz on 26 December 1081, giving Goslar the status of an Imperial City.

Demographics

As of 31 December 2020 there were 50,184 inhabitants in Goslar (including Vienenburg).

(count: 31 December of each year)

Politics

Town council

For the legislature from 1 November 2016 until 31 October 2021 the seats were allocated as follows:

SPD: 14 seats (37.55%)

CDU: 10 seats (26.10%)

AfD: 3 seats (9.28%)

FDP: 3 seats (6.95%)

Greens: 3 seats (6.70%)

Goslarer Linke: 2 seats (5.36%)

BGL: 2 seats (5.02%)

AfG: 1 seat (1.69%)

Lord Mayor

Dr Oliver Junk was mayor from September 2011 to October 2021. Since November 2021 Urte Schwerdtner (SPD) has been Mayor of Goslar.

Members of Parliament

European (Constituency: Southern Lower Saxony), Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl (CDU), Erika Mann (SPD)

Bundestag (Constituency 52: Goslar, Northeim, Osterode), First: Wilhelm Priesmeier (SPD), List: Hans Georg Faust (CDU)

Landtag Lower Saxony (Constituency 16: Goslar), First: Petra Emmerich-Kopatsch (SPD), List: Dorothee Prüssner (CDU)

Twin towns – sister cities

Goslar is twinned with:

Culture and sights

Memorial to the fallen riflemen of the 10th Hanover Rifle Battalion in the Franco-Prussian War 1870/1871 (now near the Kahnteich)

Memorial to the fallen riflemen of the 10th Hanover Rifle Battalion in World War I 1914–1918

Theatre

The Odeon Theatre is the town's major theatre. It has been recently refurbished. It is host to several productions of visiting theatre companies and music groups.

The alternative theatre Culture Power Station Harz or Kulturkraftwerk Harz is housed in a disused power station. It is run by volunteers and produces modern theatre, comedy and mostly alternative cultural events. Here the annual Goslar Fringe Culture Days are held during the first half of June.

Museums

Museum and visitors’ mine Rammelsberg, an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage

Museum in the Kaiserpfalz, a 19th-C reconstruction of the medieval imperial palace

Monks' House, Mönchehaus Museum of Contemporary and Modern Arts

Goslar Museum

Museum in the Gothic Town Hall

Zwinger Tower and Dungeon, Museum of Late Mediaeval History

Religion

Protestant-Lutheran

Congregation Marktkirche, Market Church (build 1151, North Tower mountable)

Congregation Neuwerk, Newark Church

Congregation St Stephani, Saint Stephen

Congregation Zum Frankenberge, Frankenberg Church

Congregation Gustav-Adolf-Stabkirche, Gustav Adolf stave church in Hahnenklee

Congregation Martin-Luther-Kirche, Martin Luther Church

Congregation St Paulus Kirche, St Paul's Church, in Oker

Congregation St Georg, St George

Congregation St Johannes, St John

Parish Church St Kilian in Hahndorf

Congregation St Lukas, St Luke

Parish Church St Matthäus, St Matthew, in Jerstedt

Congregation St Peter

Baptist

Congregation Christuskirche, Church of Christ

Roman Catholic

Congregation St Jakobi, St James the Greater (built in 1073, Goslar's oldest romanesque church still in use)

Congregation Maria Schnee, St Mary of the Snows, in Hahnenklee

Sports

Situated at the foot of the Harz mountains, Goslar offers a range of outdoor pursuits including swimming, rock climbing, motor sports, flying, sailing and mountain-biking.

The oldest and most traditional sports club is the MTV Goslar (founded in 1849). Its main facilities, a football pitch and gymnasium, are Lon the Golden Meadow (Goldene Aue) site.

The football department of Goslarer SC 08 earned the right to play in the fourth division Regionalliga Nord in 2009–10 after winning the Oberliga Niedersachsen championship.

Celebrations and Events

In 2006 Goslar hosted the Salier Year to celebrate the founding of this ancient German Imperial dynasty a millennium ago.

Other events include:

Annual award (since 1975) of the ‘Imperial Ring’ to a personality who has made an outstanding contribution to society and the arts. Its recipients include Henry Moore, Joseph Beuys, Christo and Dani Karavan.

Goslar International Concerto Days, mid to end August

The Goslar Fair, early to mid July

Annual Artisans market in the old town, usually beginning of August

Old Town Festival, mid-September

Hanseatic Days, Spring (usually during the Easter holidays)

Economy and infrastructure

The town centre of Goslar serves as a regional shopping centre for the Northern Harz region. Here department stores, several supermarkets, elegant boutiques and restaurants can be found. Once weekly there is also a market, where farmers sell their local produce. There are also several car dealerships in the borough, some of which specialise in either discount/reimport or custom car sales.

Tourism is a booming sector in Goslar. Several hotels and bed and breakfasts are located in or near the centre of the town. In addition the town has become a popular resort for the elderly and there are many care homes in the town.

Goslar has become a popular conference venue. The Achtermann Hotel and the Kaiserpfalz are popular conference centres, host to the annual German Road & Transport Tribunal Days: the Deutscher Verkehrsgerichtstag

The largest employers in Goslar are H.C. Starck (chemistry company), tourism and the civil service. Many residents of Goslar commute to Salzgitter, where car production, steel works and white-collar jobs are based.

The Dr-Herbert-Nieper-Krankenhaus is a privately owned hospital in the Asklepios Harzkliniken group serving the greater Harz region. A new annex for intensitive medicine is under construction. There are several general practitioners, dentists and specialists distributed across the town. There is an emergency service.

Transport

Goslar has excellent road and rail links to the major European centre of population. Goslar is also a major transport hub for the Upper Harz mountains (highest peak at 1,141 m (3,744 ft) altitude).

With the A 7 and the A 395 there are two main Autobahns/motorways within 20 minutes of Goslar.

The A 7 connects Hamburg/Hanover in the North to Frankfurt/Munich in the South. The A 395 branches off the main east-west Autobahn A 2 at Brunswick and ends at Vienenburg, some 12 km (7 mi) east of Goslar. The A 2 connects Berlin – to the East – to the Ruhr Area and the Netherlands in the West. The Federal highways B 6 and B 82 converge at Goslar and are routed via the four-lane by-pass past the town centre. The B 6 is mostly four laned and approaches Goslar via the scenic Hildesheim–Salzgitter route.

Goslar is served by the German Railway network (Deutsche Bahn) lines Hanover–Goslar–Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) as well as Brunswick–Goslar–Kreiensen. The central railway station is near the town centre. There is a park-and-ride system for commuters to Brunswick and Hanover.

At the railway station there is a central bus station with regular bus services to various destinations in the Harz mountains. The buses belong to DB Stadtverkehr.

Media

The regional newspaper is the Goslarsche Zeitung, which has an estimated daily readership of 90,000. The General-Anzeiger is owned by the Heinrich Bauer publishing group with an editorial office in Goslar. There are also two free newspapers..

Radio Okerwelle GoslarRadio is the regional private radio station based in Brunswick, which broadcasts modern music, information and news in German to the Brunswick region.

Education

The three-tier education system in Goslar district falls under Lower-Saxon legislation. The language of instruction at all schools is German. The nine primary schools are distributed across the entire municipality and the associated hamlets. There are two grammar schools (years 5-12/13), the Christian-von-Dohm-Gymnasium and the more traditional Ratsgymnasium, both of which prepare their pupils for an academic career. Three intermediate-level schools (years 5–10), the Andre-Mouton Realschule, the Realschule Hoher Weg and the Realschule Goldene Aue, prepare their pupils for a professional career. There are also two vocational schools (years 5-9/10): the Hauptschule Oker and the Hauptschule Kaiserpfalz. The Sonderschule caters for children with learning difficulties and special needs.

The supplementary public Waldorf school Harz – Branch Goslar educates its pupils along a more spiritual line termed anthroposophy, based on the teachings of the Austrian pedagogue Rudolf Steiner.

For years 10–12 there are four job-training colleges located at Goslar in crafts, economics and care for the elderly for students from Goslar district and beyond. There are two state vocational schools offering part-time education within the German dual vocational education and training system and full-time education. BBS 1 Goslar -Am Stadtgarten- focuses on education in business administration, economics, health services and information and communications technology (ICT). BBS Goslar-Baßgeige/Seesen concentrates on mechanical, electrical and textile engineering; natural sciences: chemistry, physics, biology; food services, domestic science and industry and administration.

The nearest university to Goslar is the Engineering and Mining School at Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the Upper Harz mountains, 21 kilometres (13 miles) south of Goslar within Goslar district. Some 80 km (50 mi) to the south is the University of Göttingen (founded by King George II of Great Britain).

Adult education (lifelong learning) for the Goslar area is offered at the Volkshochschule.

Notable people

Frederuna (887–917), queen consort of France by marriage to King Charles III of France.

Kraft of Meissen (died 1066) provost of Goslarer Dom (Collegiate Church of Goslar), and Bishop of Meissen in 1066.

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1050–1106), King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor.

Helmold (ca 1120 – after 1177), a Saxon historian of the 12th century and priest.

Goslar is the ancestral home of the Siemens family since 1384; including the Prussian-British-Russian industrial pioneers Werner von Siemens, Sir William Siemens and Carl von Siemens

Christoph Andreas Schlüter (1668–1743), metallurgist, assayer and mining official.

Maurice de Saxe (1696–1750), Marshal General of France. Adversary of the Hanoverians.

Wilhelm Ripe (1818–1885), painter and graphic designer during the era of Romanticism, died locally

Albert Niemann (1834–1861), chemist and pharmacist. Credited with the discovery of cocaine

Otto Wilhelm August Nieper (1848–1939), Chief Surgeon at the hospital in Goslar, which was renamed the Dr.-Herbert-Nieper-Krankenhaus in his honor.

Ludwig Gattermann (1860–1920), a chemist who worked on organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry

Adolf Grimme (1889–1963), Social Democratic politician and member of the German resistance to Nazism

Sport

Ernst Pistulla (1906–1944), light heavyweight boxer, silver medallist at the 1928 Summer Olympics

Günther Brennecke (1927–2014), field hockey player, team bronze medallist at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Angelika Dünhaupt (born 1946), luger, (rides a sled face-up and feet-first); bronze medallist at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Carola Hoffmann (born 1962), field hockey player, team silver medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Mathias Hain (born 1972), football goalkeeper, played 513 games

Aaron Hunt (born 1986), footballer, played 413 games