Let's discover Clausthal and surroundings - Entdecken wir Clausthal und Umgebung

This very varied route starts with a city walk through the city of Clausthal and then continues through the special UNESCO heritage landscape with the many lakes, dikes and forests.

The points of interest of this informative walk:
Monument Hermann Kerl (Father of Naturpark Harz)
Info point Natur- und Geoparkstadt Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Aula Academica
Alter Friedhof
Adolph-Roemer-Straße (Main Street)
Marktkirche "Zum heiligen Geist"
Neuer Friedhof
University area
Russischer Ehrenfriedhof (Russian Cemetery Memorial)
Werk Tanne (The remains of the historic munitions factory)
And finally an extensive stretch with the streams, lakes and dams that formed the infrastructure for the waterworks serving the mines that were once in this area.

Hermann Kerl
Hermann Kerl, born in 1901, was chief district director in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, main chairman of the Harz Club and spokesman for the working group of Lower Saxony's nature parks. The ordinance for the protection of parts of the landscape of the former district of Zellerfeld bears his signature. It designates the area entered in the landscape protection map in the district of Zellerfeld as "Harz Nature Park".

Aula Academica
Only a few universities in Germany are likely to have such a representative auditorium as the Technical University of Clausthal. The Aula Academica was built in the 1920s and has since undergone numerous conversions and conversions.
The last renovation was completed in 2020.
In order to renovate the auditorium as true to the original as possible, the southern Lower Saxony state building management paid special attention to the restoration investigation and building history research. This was done in close coordination with the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.
After completion of the exterior renovation of the auditorium (wooden facade, slate roof, staircase and light pit), the extensive interior renovation began. The task was to restore the original colour scheme and at the same time to meet the fire protection requirements.
The comprehensive restoration investigations showed that the pointed arches of the dome had been painted over in grey. In accordance with the preservation of historical monuments, the decision was clear: only the original colouring could be restored.
The South Lower Saxony construction management also restored the surrounding clerestory windows based on a preserved original. A white dormer was built behind each window, which reproduces the historical impression of the room with daylight-coloured lighting. All dome lighting is dimmable and the color temperature can be coordinated.

Adolph-Roemer-Straße (Main Street)
In this cozy street we find all kinds of shops and many eateries

Marktkirche "Zum heiligen Geist"
The Market Church of the Holy Spirit in Clausthal is the largest wooden church in Germany and a work of art of national importance. In the centre of the historic market square, it impresses above all with its size and shape. It offers space for over 2000 people.
The church, consecrated in 1642 and dedicated to the Holy Spirit, was built in the Baroque period - recognizable from the outside by the French domes of the bell tower and the ridge turret sitting behind it. The interior is also baroque.
As a pure timber construction, the market church has a unique position in European architectural history. Because of its rich furnishings, it was a model for numerous other churches in northern Germany, e.g. for the Johanniskirche in Wolfenbüttel.
Its artistically valuable furnishings, the honorary box for high-ranking mining officials (who contributed generously to the interior design in times of need) and also a large ore specimen impressively demonstrate the close interdependence of church and mining over almost 400 years and at the same time testify to the high intellectual level of society at the time.
(source: http://www.clausthalzellerfeld.de/de/stadterlebnis/sehens-und-wissenswertes/kirchen/marktkirche/index.html )

Clausthal University of Technology - History
In 1775 the academy of the local Hanoverian mining authority was established at Clausthal in the Harz Mountain range with its centuries-long history of mining in the Upper Harz (most notably at the Rammelsberg). Initially a school for pitmen and smelter workers, it was raised to the status of a mining college by the Westphalian minister Count Hans von Bülow in 1810. In 1864, at the behest of King George V of Hanover, the spin-off of a mining academy (Bergakademie) was founded.
Both institutions remained under joint administration after the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia in 1866, until in 1906 the academy was separated as an autonomous educational establishment directly subordinate to the Prussian government represented by a curator. It was one of only two mining academies in Prussia, the other being the mining college in Berlin established in 1770, a predecessor of the Berlin Institute of Technology.
After World War II, the academy passed under the authority of the West German state of Lower Saxony, it was renamed Technische Hochschule in 1966 and Technische Universität in 1968.
In 2015, student numbers at Clausthal reached a high of almost 5000 students. However, since then this number has rapidly plummeted to around 3400.

Russian Cemetery Memorial
During World War II, the demand for explosives was at an all-time high. The Sprengstoff-Fabrik Tanne was established in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in 1937 to meet this need. Forced laborers from various countries, including Soviet prisoners of war, were brought to work in the factory under harsh conditions. The laborers were subjected to gruelling tasks and lived in deplorable conditions, enduring both physical and emotional suffering.
Tragedy struck on April 6, 1945, when a catastrophic explosion occurred at the Tanne explosives factory. The explosion resulted in a devastating loss of life, not only among the forced laborers but also among the local population. The aftermath of the explosion left an indelible scar on the town and its surroundings.
The "Russian Cemetery Memorial" is a commemorative site dedicated to the memory of the victims of this tragic explosion. The memorial honours those who lost their lives, particularly Russian forced laborers who were tragically killed in the blast. It serves as a place of remembrance and reflection, reminding visitors of the human cost of war and industrial accidents.

Werk Tanne (The remains of the historic munitions factory)
East of Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the area between the Pfauenteich and the Fortuner Teich there is a large, cordoned-off area. The surrounding barbed wire fence partly reaches right up to the hiking trail. In some places, from the fence, you can see massive ruins of structures seemingly planned for eternity jutting out of the forest floor.
The high fence is in the forest for a reason. During the era of the "Third Reich" one of the largest German production sites for the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) as well as important filling plants for various ammunition were located here. This explosives plant, which goes by the alias "Tanne", was built in the mid-1930s. It was commissioned in 1939 a few months before the start of the war.
The production of TNT produced a great deal of toxic waste in liquid form. For a short time, the Lange-Teich and the Polstertaler Teich were used as intermediate storage. However, the capacity of these two old mining ponds was far from sufficient. Therefore, the toxic waste water was directed into the south-western Harz foreland and brought underground there. In one accident, large quantities of the caustic liquid also flowed into the Middle Pfauenteich. This and the lower Pfauenteich below were massively contaminated.
After the end of the war, the Americans tried to blow up the buildings on the premises of the Tanne plant. However, this proved to be very difficult due to their massive construction. The occupying power therefore decided to wall up the complex aboveground and underground facilities as far as possible and to declare the entire area a restricted area.
Even today, residues from the manufacture of explosives can be found in the groundwater and in the underground Upper Harz tunnel system from the mining period. Unknown amounts of toxic waste are also stored on the former factory premises. The Lower and Middle Pfauenteich were rehabilitated in 2012 after years of heavy pollution with toxic chemicals. However, unrestricted use of these waters is still not possible today.
In the recent past, various attempts have been made to remediate the contaminated soil in the former Tanne plant. Due to the enormous extent, however, this is probably a task for generations. To this day, entering the former factory premises is forbidden. In view of the health risks, it is therefore in your own interest not to try to get past the barriers.
(source: https://www.harzlife.de/special/werk-tanne.html )

The stretch with the streams, lakes and dams.
The Upper Harz Water Management - 107 ponds and 340 kilometres of ditches and channels.
Ponds, ditches and watercourses run through the picturesque landscape of the Upper Harz. They are the visible components of the Upper Harz water management system, which developed between the 16th and 19th centuries. The ponds were once used to store energy and supplied the drive water for ore mining, for the mine pumps and later for the underground transport of people.
Today, 310 kilometres of water ditches and 30 kilometres of watercourses belong to the Upper Harz Water Management World Heritage. 63 of the 107 preserved ponds are still in use and are used for energy supply, as flood retention, as drinking water reservoirs or as bathing ponds.

When we walk through this last piece of cultural landscape with its many lakes, dikes and forests, no one will fail to notice that in some places almost all trees are dead. What is the cause?

Causes of tree death
Frassbild-Borkenkäfer© Niedersächsische Landesforsten.
Weather extremes such as storms and drought have severely affected trees in recent years. These weakened trees now lack natural resilience.
Spruce dieback is triggered by bark beetles, which eat their way through the conductive pathways of the spruces. Healthy spruce trees can ward them off with tree resin - a natural mechanism that no longer works due to the prolonged drought and heat of the past summers.
Even a small number of bark beetles causes the spruce trees to die. In good conditions, they can reproduce en masse. A female can produce hundreds of thousands of offspring in just one year. However, not only spruce trees are affected by tree death. Deciduous trees such as beech and ash are particularly widespread in the southern Harz. They are just as susceptible to diseases and parasites due to the climate stress.

Some additional information:
The route is designed in a counter clockwise direction.
Time spent: total = 6 hours 58 minutes of which moving = 3 hours and 36 minutes
There are picnic tables after 3,6 and 5,7 kilometres from the beginning
There is drinking water at the shops and bars along the way in the city.
The track is very easy from a technical point of view.

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