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| Vienenburg | |
| Coat of arms | Location |
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| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Goslar |
| Town subdivisions | 6 districts |
| Mayor | Astrid Eltner (SPD) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 71.14 km² (27.5 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 141 m (463 ft) |
| Population | 11,115 (31/12/2006) |
| - Density | 156 /km² (405 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | GS |
| Postal code | 38690 |
| Area code | 05324 |
| Website | www.vienenburg.de |
Vienenburg is a town in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the north of the Harz mountain range on the river Oker, approx. 10 km northeast of Goslar. Other neighbouring municipalities are Bad Harzburg and Schladen. Vienenburg was first mentioned in a 1306 deed as a founding by the Counts of Wernigerode, it received town privileges in 1935. Its train station, built in 1840, is the oldest preserved one in Germany. Situated in a mainly agricultural area, the town is known for the Harzer cheese, although the production was transferred to Saxony in 2004.
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City districts
The town consists of Vienenburg and the surrounding villages Immenrode, Lengde, Weddingen, Lochtum and Wiedelah.
Wöltingerode Abbey
In 1174 the Counts of Wohldenberg established a Benedictine monastery at their ancestral seat west of Vienenburg, which converted into a Cistercian nunnery a few years later, confirmed by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1188 and by Pope Honorius III in a 1216 deed. The abbey affiliated to the Bishopric of Hildesheim generated several filial monasteries and left a collection of notable manuscripts, now kept at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.
In 1523 the Bishop of Hildesheim in result of an armed conflict had to cede Wöltingerode to Duke Henry the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Henry's son Duke Julius turned Protestant in 1568 and in consequence a Lutheran abbess was installed as head of the monastery. During the Thirty Years' War the Bishop of Hildesheim, Ferdinand of Bavaria, referring to the 1629 Edict of Restitution by Emperor Ferdinand II, expelled the nuns and put the abbey under Jesuit rule. Nevertheless in 1632 the Catholic canons had to abscond from the approaching Swedish army and Wöltingerode, though it fell back to the Hildesheim Bishopric in 1643, remained Lutheran until the 1803 German Mediatisation.
Today Wöltingerode is known for its abbey church, a Romanesque basilica of the late 12th century with an attached cloister and a crypta, which serves for storage of the famous Wöltingerode Korn, distilled here since 1682.
Harlyburg
The Harly mountain (256m/840ft) north of the town was the site of a castle built in 1203 by Emperor Otto IV to threaten the trade route to Goslar, as the city supported his rival Philipp of Swabia. After Otto's death in 1218 the castle became a property of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg while the garrisons of the castle were notorious for permanently robbing bypassing merchants. Therefore the Bishop of Hildesheim Siegfried II declared war against Duke Henry the Admirable and in 1291 took and slighted the castle. Some moats are still visible today. A modern observation tower stands nearby.
Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly (Stadtrat) as of 2006 elections:
- Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 14 (49.73 %)
- Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 11 (39.45 %)
- Green Alternative Voters (GAW): 2 (8.00 %)
- National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD): 1 (2.82 %)
Transportation
Vienenburg is connected to the Bundesautobahnen A 2, A 7 and A 14. It is also a junction of railways leading to Braunschweig in the north, to Halberstadt and Halle in the east as well as to Bad Harzburg and Goslar in the south. The lines are served by RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn trains of the Deutsche Bahn and trains of the Veolia Verkehr company.
Notable people
- Christoph Gudermann (March 25, 1798 - September 25, 1852), mathematician.
Town twinning
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