Clausthal-Zellerfeld

Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Church
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Location of the town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld within Goslar district
Coordinates	51°48′18″N 10°20′8″E / 51.805°N 10.33556°E / 51.805; 10.33556Coordinates: 51°48′18″N 10°20′8″E / 51.805°N 10.33556°E / 51.805; 10.33556
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Goslar
Municipal assoc.	Oberharz
Town subdivisions	3 districts
Mayor	Volker Taube
Basic statistics
Area	33.96 km2 (13.11 sq mi)
Elevation	560 m  (1837 ft)
Population	14,579 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	429 /km2 (1,112 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	GS
Postal code	38678
Area code	05323
Website	www.samtgemeinde- oberharz.de

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

Population statistics

Year Inhabitants 1821 12,757 1848 14,739 1871 14,080 1885 13,917 1905 13,758 1925 12,973

Year Inhabitants 1933 11,855 1939 11,788 1946 15,786 1950 17,643 1956 15,585

Year Inhabitants 1961 15,849 1968 16,468 1970 15,714 1975 16,690 1980 16,270

Year Inhabitants 1985 16,250 1990 17,061 1995 16,703 2000 15,413 2005 15,075

Politics

Town council

2006 local elections:

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

Culture and sights

Dietzel House dating from 1674, which now also houses the tourist information office

• 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

1. ^ "Bevölkerungsfortschreibung" (in German). Landesbetrieb für Statistik und Kommunikationstechnologie Niedersachsen. 31 December 2009. http://www1.nls.niedersachsen.de/statistik/html/parametereingabe.asp?DT=K1000014&CM=Bev%F6lkerungsfortschreibung.