Catharina Neufang pit

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Oral hole of the Catharina Neufang pit

The Catharina Neufang mine in the mining town of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz has been an ore mine that has been in operation since at least 1575 , which came into state ownership in 1765 and was operated with the neighboring Samson mine until 1910 . Today the mine is operated jointly with the Samson mine. The name of the pit indicates the discovery of a new vein, a new catch in honor of one of the 14 helpers in need, Saint Catherine .

On December 12, 1777, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also drove into the Catharina Neufang mine as part of his first trip to the Harz Mountains and later noted in his diary: “We drove into Samson in the evening, through Neufang at God's grace. I was very angry this time. ” At this point in time the Neue Rehberger Graben (1699–1703) was completed, which solved the regular problem of water shortages in many Andreasberg pits by bringing in the urgently needed impact water .

The mine used to have a gaipel , which also served as a colliery house and was later demolished. A new building was built for this purpose, which was used as the “Neufang” inn and which today serves a different purpose. At the site of the Gaipel, a bowling alley was built, which was called the highest in Germany, although there were also bowling alleys at higher altitudes in other German mountain regions.

Web links

Written sources (selection)

  • Lower Saxony State Archives Hanover, Clausthal Mountain Archive (hereinafter: NLA HA, BaCl) Hann. 84a, No. 9584 Catharina Neufang mine - St. Andreasberger Revier. Contains: drawing of the shafts , 1537–1744.
  • NLA HA, BaCl Hann. 84a, No. 9587 Catharina Neufang mine - St. Andreasberger Revier. Contains: 5 drawings of the pits , 1769–1780.
  • NLA HA, BaCl Hann. 84a, No. 9589 Catharina Neufang pit - St. Andreasberger Revier , 1800–1865.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The duration of a file specifically on Catharina Neufang in the Lower Saxony State Archives (location: Clausthal mountain archive) can be traced back to 1537, cf. Written sources.
  2. ^ Georg Schwedt: Goethe as a chemist . Springer, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-540-64354-0 , pp. 48 .
  3. ^ Heinrich Morich: The old colliery houses in the Upper Harz , in: General Harz Mountain Calendar for the year 1931 , page 38.
  4. ↑ An example is the bowling alley at the “Wittigsthaler Hof” inn in Wittigsthal at an altitude of approx. 680 m.

Coordinates: 51 ° 42 ′ 49.3 "  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 53.7"  E