Clausthal-Zellerfeld

Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000, Clausthal-Zellerfeld is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Oberharz.

Geography

City districts

• Buntenbock (since 1972)
• Clausthal
• Zellerfeld

History

Actually, Clausthal-Zellerfeld consists of two towns: Clausthal and Zellerfeld were merged in 1924 to form an administrative unit. Clausthal is well known for the old Clausthal University of Technology and its magnificent buildings, while Zellerfeld is a typical tourist resort 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 in the area began in the 16th century. Modern wire rope was invented to service the iron mines 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 bridges. Mining activity halted in 1930 because the ore deposits were exhausted and no longer financially valuable. Today, there are large remains of mines in the surrounding Harz region, some of which are now tourable museums. The Clausthal University of Technology was established in 1763 for the education of mining engineers. Today, it is a technical university for teaching engineering.

Demographics

Politics

Town council

2006 local elections:

• SPD: 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
• GeoMuseum of Clausthal University of Technology

Buildings

• Plants of Upper Harz Water Regale
• Market Church, the largest wooden church in Germany
• Clausthal mint (1617–1849)
• Dietzel House

Persons

People from Clausthal-Zellerfeld

• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), composer
• Robert Koch (1843–1910), microbiologist
• Otto Erich Hartleben (1864–1905), poet and dramatist
• Dietrich Grönemeyer (born 1952), physician

Notable people associated with Clausthal-Zellerfeld

• Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782–1859), mineralogist
• Wilhelm Albert (1787–1846), mining administrator and inventor
• Friedrich Adolph Roemer (1809–1869), geologist
• Arnold Sommerfeld (1868–1951), theoretical physicist

External links

• clausthal-zellerfeld.de (German)
• Clausthal-Zellerfeld at the Open Directory Project
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Clausthal". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

References