Portal:Harz

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Welcome to the Harz Portal, the home of Wikipedia information on the Harz, an important natural landscape and tourist destination in North Germany.

The portal gives a brief overview of the region, provides a road map for many of the articles about the Harz in English Wikipedia, and shows how you can get involved improving Wikipedia's coverage of the Harz.

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The Harz is the second highest mountain range in Germany's Central Uplands after the Ore Mountains and extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart (mountain forest). The Harz has the highest mountain in northwestern Germany, the legendary Brocken, which is 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) above sea level and was the site of a former Soviet listening post during the Cold War. The Harz also hosts the highest dam in Germany, the 106 m high Rappbode Dam. The region has a high level of snow and rainfall, and its network of lakes and dams provide drinking water to the surrounding towns and cities as well as flood protection. It is also a popular tourist destination with ski resorts such as Braunlage and Sankt Andreasberg and a major hiking trail network known as the Harzer Wandernadel. More...

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The summit of the Brocken, showing the transmitters

The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C (37.2 °F). It is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany; travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the Ural Mountains in Russia.

The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the legends in his play Faust. The Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects. (Full article...)

List of selected articles
Harzer Wandernadel Harz National Park Wernigerode Castle Upper Harz Unicorn Cave Brocken Railway Bode (river) Brocken Garden Thuringii Upper Harz Water Regale Walkenried Abbey Upper Harz Ditches Thale Upper Harz Mining Museum Mining in the Upper Harz Upper Harz Water Tunnels Harz Roller Clausthal-Zellerfeld Oderteich Wolfsklippen Bode Gorge

Geography and Nature

Landscape: Hercynian Forest, Upper Harz
Animals: Bear Monument, Black Stork, Dipper, Lynx, Harz Roller, Peregrine, Boreal owl, Wildcat
Caves: Baumann's Cave, Hermann's Cave
Gardens : WeltWald Harz, Brocken Garden
Geology: Rhenohercynian Zone
Lakes and reservoirs: List, Harzwasserwerke, Brockenteich, Ecker, Innerste, Königshütte, Mandelholz, Oder, Oderteich, Oker, Neustadt, Rappbode, Silberteich, Söse, Wendefurth, Wippra
Nature parks: Harz National Park
Mountains: List, Achtermannshöhe, Aschentalshalbe, Auf dem Acker, Bocksberg, Brocken, Bruchberg, Carlshaushöhe, Großer Knollen, Hasselkopf, Heinrichshöhe, Hohnekamm, Jordanshöhe, Königsberg, Kuppe, Rammelsberg, Ravensberg, Rehberg, Scharfenstein, Sonnenberg, Stöberhai, Wolfsklippen, Wolfswarte, Wurmberg, Zeterklippen
Plateaux: Alter Stolberg, Hexentanzplatz
Regions: Mansfelder Land
Ridges: Langfast
Rivers: Bode, Bode Gorge, Eine, Grane, Gose, Holtemme, Ilse, Innerste, Kalte Bode, Oder, Oker, Rappbode, Rhume, Selke, Söse, Warme Bode, Wipper, Wormke, Zillierbach, Zorge
Rock formations: Ackertklippe, Bäumlersklippe, Brockentor, Böser Kleef, Elfenstein, Froschfelsen, Gänseschnabel, Hahnenkleeklippen, Hirschhornklippen, Hoher Kleef, Hamburger Wappen, Hübichenstein, Ilsestein, Kahle Klippe, Kamelfelsen, Kästeklippen, Muxklippe, Ottofels, Roßtrappe, Schnarcherklippen, Schurre, Taubenklippe, Treppenstein
Natural monuments: Kleine Renne, Ottofels, Mönchsbuche, Steinerne Renne

Culture

Castles and stately homes: Alte Burg, Anhalt Castle, Erichsburg, Falkenstein, Grasburg, Güntersburg, Hasserode, Harzburg, Heinrichsberg, Herzberg, Hohnstein, Ilsenburg, Konradsburg, Lauenburg, Meisdorf House, Plessenburg, Scharzfels, Stapelburg, Wernigerode
Cuisine: Harzer cheese, Schierker Feuerstein spirit
Education: Clausthal University of Technology
Forestry: Köte
Language: Eastphalian, Thuringian, Upper Harz
Legend: Princess Ilse
Minerals: Breithauptite, Bournonite, Bronzite, Clausthalite, Goslarite, Harmotome, Harz granite, Harzburgite, Manganite, Manganosite, Pyrargyrite, Samsonite, Umangite, Zinkenite
Mining: Medieval mining, Mining in the Upper Harz, Dennert Fir Tree, Man engine, Rammelsberg Mine, Samson Pit, Upper Harz Ditches, Upper Harz Ponds, Upper Harz Water Regale, Upper Harz Water Tunnels
Museums: Mines of Rammelsberg, Upper Harz Mining Museum
Skiing: List of resorts, Braunlage, Sankt Andreasberg, Sonnenberg, Wurmberg, Wurmberg Ski Jumps
Walking: Harz Club, Harz Run, Harzer Wandernadel network; Witches' Trail, Kaiser Way
Towers: Joseph's Cross
Special articles: Brocken spectre, Harz Red mountain cattle, Imperial Palace of Goslar, Inner German border, Molkenhaus, Romkerhall Hunting Lodge, Timber framing

Towns and Villages

Important Towns and Villages: Abbenrode, Allrode, Altenau, Bad Grund, Bad Harzburg, Bad Lauterberg, Bad Sachsa, Bad Suderode, Ballenstedt, Benneckenstein, Blankenburg, Braunlage, Breitenstein, Breitungen, Cattenstedt, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Dietersdorf, Elbingerode, Elend, Ellrich, Falkenstein, Gernrode, Goslar, Hainrode, Harzgerode, Hasselfelde, Hattorf am Harz, Hayn, Heimburg, Herrmannsacker, Herzberg am Harz, Hüttenrode, Ilfeld, Ilsenburg, Kleinleinungen, Langelsheim, Mansfeld, Neustadt, Niedersachswerfen, Nordhausen, Osterode am Harz, Questenberg, Rieder, Roßla, Sangerhausen, Sankt Andreasberg, Schwenda, Seesen, Sorge, Stapelburg, Stiege, Stolberg, Tanne, Thale, Timmenrode, Trautenstein, Uftrungen, Wieda, Wildemann, Walkenried, Wernigerode, Westerhausen, Wienrode, Wippra, Zorge

General images

The following are images from various Harz-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Braunlage (windward) (from Harz)
Image 2Mansfeld (leeward) (from Harz)
Image 3Narrow gauge railway (from Harz)
Image 4Torfhaus Moor (from Harz)
Image 5The Wendefurth Reservoir (from List of dams and reservoirs in the Harz)
Image 6Spruce woods in the Harz (from Harz)
Image 7Bode Gorge (from Harz)
Image 8Old town of Wernigerode (from Harz)
Image 9The Eurasian lynx – once again found living wild in the Harz (from Harz)
Image 10Stolberg (from Harz)
Image 11Castle and abbey of Quedlinburg (from Harz)
Image 12Brocken (windward) (from Harz)
Image 13View of the Upper Harz (from Harz)
Image 14Sender Brocken at the summit in winter (from Harz)
Image 15The Oker with white water. A footpath is on the right bank. (from Harz)
Image 16Gabbro Quarry near Bad Harzburg (from Harz)
Image 17Former climbing areas on the Roßtrappe (from Harz)
Image 18Harz 1852 (from Harz)
Image 19Prospecte des Hartzwalds (View of the Harz Forest) (from Harz)
Image 20Topography of the Harz (from List of mountains and hills of the Harz)
Image 21Carlshaus Tower on the Carlshaushöhe (626 m above NN) (from Harz)
Image 22Mining archive in Clausthal-Zellerfeld (from Harz)
Image 23Reservoir behind the Wendefurth Dam (from Harz)
Image 24Bode Gorge (from Harz)
Image 25Rammelsberg Mining Museum (from Harz)
Image 26Map of the Harz mountains (from Harz)
Image 27The B 4/B 242 Harz high road near Braunlage (from Harz)
Image 28Coloured black and white photograph: the Burgberg with Wernigerode Castle (between 1890 and 1905) (from List of mountains and hills of the Harz)

Did you know

The Wurmberg in the Harz, near Braunlage, is the highest mountain in Lower Saxony?
An indication of the natural state of the beech woods in the Harz is the return of the black stork (pictured)?
The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, an old fashioned, steam and diesel-powered railway network is a very popular mode of transport, especially with tourists ?

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