Rammelsberg mine, old town of Goslar and Upper Harz water management

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Rammelsberg mine, old town of Goslar and Upper Harz water management
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Rammelsberg Goslar picture map 1574 Matz Sincken.jpg
Goslar, in the background the Rammelsberg (1574)
National territory: GermanyGermany Germany
Type: Culture
Criteria : (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
Surface: 1009.89 ha
Reference No .: 623
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1992  (session 16)
Extension: 2010

Called Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water ensembles of historic buildings and technical monuments of the Upper Harz mining to a serial UNESCO - World Heritage Site summarized.

The world heritage in the Harz measures a total area of ​​220 square kilometers and has numerous museum locations and publicly accessible ground monuments.

All are located in the western Harz ( Lower Saxony ).

description

Historic mining

Pits and tunnels

19-Lachter-Stollen , Wildemann
Wooden construction of the medieval mine in the old warehouse on Rammelsberg

The lead , zinc and copper ore mines in the Rammelsberg near Goslar established the interest of the rulers in this region, the wealth of the Walkenried monastery and the rise of the city of Goslar. There are technical monuments of early mining both underground and above ground:

  • Rathstiefster tunnel, 1000 m long water solution tunnel excavated around 1150 ;
  • Fire-resistant vault, around 1250, oldest brick-lined mine room in Europe;
  • Maltermeisterturm, around 1500, the oldest daytime building of the German mining industry, built to monitor the pits, since 1578 the bell tower.

The heaps around the Rammelsberg with their sparse vegetation can still be seen today; they "are among the oldest monuments of German mining."

In Wildemann , the 19-Lachter tunnel , a water solution tunnel, which was driven from 1551 to 1690 , has been placed under protection. The Samson mine in Sankt Andreasberg has the oldest above-ground facilities of the Harz mining industry and the world's last functional driving art (from 1837). In the Rosenhöfer Revier near Clausthal there are numerous testimonies of historical mining, underground the wet tunnel, which leads up to the 24-meter-deep, brick-built wheel room . The “ Help of God ” mine near Bad Grund was the last ore mine in the Harz to be in operation until 1992. An ensemble of technical monuments from the period from 1855 to the 1920s is part of the world heritage .

Miners houses

Goslar-Frankenberg, miner's house

Since the traditional mining towns of the Harz are not part of the world heritage, this aspect of mining is represented by the Frankenberg district in Goslar. The miners , who settled here since the 15th century, “lived quite cramped in small half-timbered houses with stables and garden cells.” A miner's house built around 1600 has been preserved in the forest road.

The Frankenberger Klauskapelle was handed over to the miners by the Goslar council in 1537; prayers took place here daily before the shift began . The hospital is attached to it and partially preserved .

Upper Harz water management

Huttaler counterbalance

After the early mining industry got into a crisis due to the plague around 1350 , production stopped. The penetration of the water into the pits could no longer be controlled.

Mining was resumed in the 16th century because there was a need for silver for coinage . New techniques made it possible to penetrate deeper and not only to divert the pit water , but to convert it into energy. The Harz mining industry thus flourished again.

The Upper Harz water management includes a branched network of water solution tunnels, ditches and artificially created ponds. Special technical services include the Sperberhaier Damm with its dam ditch system and the Huttaler Widerwaage .

Beneficiaries of the mining industry

Imperial Palace

The resin was to the 13th century because of its ore reserves a power base for emperors and kings . The Kaiserpfalz Goslar , scene of 23 Reichstag , is considered the "largest, oldest and best preserved secular building of the 11th century."

Walkenried Monastery

The Cistercian monastery Walkenried has been attested as a co-owner of the Rammelsberg since the 2nd half of the 12th century . Since its foundation, the order has been active in mining alongside agriculture , so that the Walkenrieder could benefit from the exchange of information with other monasteries. It is assumed that the Cistercians knew the use of bellows in the smelting of ores from northern Italy and organized a water management system on the edge of the Harz to generate energy. Remnants of it are still visible in the Pandelbachtal near Seesen and the Brunnenbach near Braunlage . The environmental damage caused by the smelters (air, water) must have been considerable.

When mining came to a standstill around 1350, the Walkenried monastery lost its raw material base for its huts and thus the most important source of income.

Old town of Goslar

The political importance of Goslar and the prosperity of the citizens are due to the Harz mining. This is reflected in the rich furnishings of the churches such as the town hall ( tribute hall ). The old town has over 1,500 half-timbered buildings, the oldest of which date from the 15th century.

The defensive strength of the imperial city of Goslar can be seen in the city fortifications, which are repeatedly adapted to the state of the art of warfare, such as the Breiten Tor with its flanking kennels and the Werderhof gatekeeper barracks.

World heritage status

Maltermeisterturm, Rammelsberg

The Rammelsberg mine, the old town of Goslar and the Upper Harz water management are of outstanding importance throughout Europe as a mining region. They document the development of mining from the Middle Ages to the 20th century (criterion I). Technical knowledge was acquired and exchanged here, which inspired Georgius Agricola to write De re metallica , a compendium of mining and mining in the Renaissance (criterion II). The size and continuous development of the cultural landscape, which is shaped by mining, are extraordinary; the Walkenried monastery and the old town of Goslar document administration and economy in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance (criterion IV).

The integrity and authenticity of the Rammelsberg mine, the Walkenried monastery and the Goslar old town are considered evident by UNESCO . The Upper Harz water management was already protected as a technical monument by the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act in 1978 and is maintained by the Harz waterworks , which guarantees the integrity of the system, especially since it is embedded in the Harz low mountain range. The modern use for electricity generation is seen as unproblematic, since the extensive system served the purpose of generating energy and the turbines now in use hardly disturb the visual impression. The traditional pond harrow system for water management is considered worthy of protection because it is endangered, of which there are only two examples left; all others have been modernized.

According to UNESCO's assessment in 2010, the biggest problem was that there was no common management for this serial world heritage .

World Heritage Information Center

In the listed manor house Walkenried of the former monastery domain , the Lower Saxony Minister of Economic Affairs Bernd Althusmann opened the first World Heritage Information Center of the UNESCO World Heritage Foundation in Harz on July 22, 2020 .

Further World Heritage information centers will be set up in Goslar (2021) and Clausthal-Zellerfeld (2022).

The heart of every World Heritage information center is a 3D landscape model with video projection, which illustrates the process of change in the 3,000-year-old cultural landscape in the western Harz. Humans - nature - technology are brought into a temporal and contextual context. The exhibitions can be visited free of charge.

See also

literature

  • Brigitte Moritz, Ortrud Krause: Museum guide Cistercian Museum Walkenried . Braunschweig 2010. ISBN 978-3-00-030609-9 .
  • Reinhard Roseneck : A museum-like approach to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Rammelsberg in Goslar. In: Hartmut John, Ira Diana Mazzoni (eds.): Industrial and technical museums in transition: Perspectives and location determinations. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2005. ISBN 3-89942-268-6 . Pp. 79-92.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage in the Harz Mountains , accessed on June 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ The Maltermeisterturm In: www.harzlife.de
  3. ↑ Reinhard Roseneck: Museum handling . 2005, p. 81 .
  4. ↑ Reinhard Roseneck: Museum handling . 2005, p. 80 .
  5. ^ Miners' settlements. In: UNESCO World Heritage in the Harz Mountains. Retrieved June 7, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Miner's house in the forest road. In: GOSLAR marketing GmbH. Retrieved June 7, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Kaiserpfalz Goslar. In: UNESCO World Heritage in the Harz Mountains. Retrieved June 7, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Brigitte Moritz, Ortrud Krause: ZisterzienserMuseum Walkenried . 2010, p. 98 .
  9. ↑ Advisory Board Evaluation (ICOMOS): Upper Harz Water Management System (Germany) No 623ter. 2010, p. 299 , accessed June 7, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Brigitte Moritz, Ortrud Krause: ZisterzienserMuseum Walkenried . 2010, p. 118 .
  11. ↑ Das Breite Tor In: www.harzlife.de
  12. ↑ Fortifications In: UNESCO World Heritage in the Harz Mountains. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  13. ^ A b Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System. In: UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved June 7, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Advisory Board Evaluation (ICOMOS): Upper Harz Water Management System (Germany) No 623ter. P. 303 , accessed June 7, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Minister Althusmann opens first World Heritage information center in the Harz Harz Kurier , issue of July 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ World Heritage Information Center , accessed on July 22, 2020.