2023-11-24 08:18:51
In the west of Thuringia, on the border with Hesse, lies the Hainich National Park with its incredible beech forests. Just a few kilometers further east you come across Eisenach and the famous Wartburg. Both Hainich and Wartburg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. You can almost see the town of Niederdorla from the Wartburg: it is only 30 kilometers north, in the middle of fields and meadows. Together with Oberdorla and Langula it belongs to the municipality of Vogtei.
Worth seeing in Niederdorla, as it says in the information for guests, is the Church of St. Johannes, which burned down in 1772 and was later rebuilt. Also the Fickentor, one of the last remaining village gates in Thuringia. By the way, it is not clear how it got its name. And then there is the village green where the people of Niederdorla celebrate their festivals every year. Everything is very nice. However, it is not enough to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Niederdorla has something completely different to offer: since German reunification on October 3, 1990, this has been the geographical center of Germany. “Being” is actually a wrong expression: you can’t see it. So that you can see something, a light-colored piece of shell limestone was placed in its place: on October 3, 1992, on the occasion of German Unity Day. It was donated by the town of Herbstein in the Vogelsberg district: This was the former central community during the times of the old Federal Republic.
Source: Infographic WELT
When it was announced after reunification that the new center had now been calculated here, people in Niederdorla were already hoping for a larger piece of the tourism cake. But nothing has come of this so far, as Mayor Christian Hecht states: “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen on its own. No wonder: it wasn’t implemented in the municipality’s portfolio either. The fact that we are a central community is not even reflected in the letterhead of the community mail. Only one parking lot was built for day visitors who want to see the geographical center of Germany.”
The Opfermoor open-air museum attracts visitors
However, visitors come to Niederdorla – if – for something else. Here’s the thing: The center point, re-measured in 1990, is actually about 120 meters from the memorial stone. But there was still a lake there at the time. So a replacement center point was determined and an imperial linden tree was planted here next to the memorial stone.
In fact, the newly measured center point is not directly here on the stone, but is about 120 meters away
Quelle: Getty Images/imageBROKER RF/imageBROKER/Norbert Neetz
The pond in question was originally used for cutting peat, and later as a gravel pit. Little by little, a Germanic cult and sacrificial site was uncovered and restored: a total of 80 sanctuaries and at least 40 wooden images of gods, the largest Iron Age sacrificial site in Central Europe, as the municipality of Vogtei proudly proclaims.
This can be visited today Sacrificial Moor open-air museum, i.e. exactly where the invisible geographical center of Germany was calculated. Visitors definitely come for that.
The real center of Germany is where the Opfermoor open-air museum is located
Quelle: pa/imageBROKER/Andreas Vitting
And that’s why we have to use both together, says Christian Hecht, to attract visitors in the future. “The role of the focal point must also be included more deeply in our marketing. The Opfermoor Museum together with the unique selling point of the center of Germany – that only exists once. It’s like the Thuringian bratwurst – it only exists once.”
How to determine the center of Germany
The center point is such a thing. There are eight center communities in Germany, depending on how the geographical center is calculated. For example, one method determines the center of gravity of the national territory.
You can imagine it like this: you cut out the map of Germany neatly along the borders. The center of gravity is then the point at which you can balance the card on a fingertip or a needle without it falling. This focal point is near Silberhausen, around 20 kilometers from Niederdorla.
In the center of Silberhausen is part of the wall that divided Germany
Source: picture alliance/dpa/Martin Schutt
In the intersection measurement method, the center point is the intersection of two lines – between the most distant points of the national territory, once in a north-south and once in an east-west direction. The current intersection center is in Besse, a district of the municipality of Edermünde in Hesse.
Niederdorla, in turn, is located exactly in the middle of an area delimited by latitude and longitude; the geographical center determined is – as mentioned – in the former pond. Incidentally, most of the central communities are in Thuringia and not far from each other.
Niederdorla does not have to fear a dispute over the title
But there is a second reason for tourists’ lack of interest in Niederdorla: a geographical center is simply not a big deal. “You can’t see the geographical center of Germany,” says Mayor Christian Hecht. “But he’s just there. What do people want in a place like this? That is also the question here. How do we want to get guests to stay here and take a look? Take the Zugspitze for example: Many people go to the Zugspitze. And what do you experience there on the highest mountain in Germany? You are standing on the highest mountain in Germany. And here we are at the center of Germany.”
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Bernhard Ziegler has also experienced that the geographical center is not a tourist magnet. He is mayor of the municipality of Herbstein am Vogelsberg, which was the center before reunification. Luckily it was located on a well-known hiking trail, so that the center was “taken away” by many visitors, so to speak.
Yes, of course you can be impressed by the fact that you are standing right here right now, in the middle of Germany, says Mayor Ziegler. “This is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for younger visitors who arrive by car and navigation system. They often don’t even know what area they are in anymore.”
The festival at the center of Germany in Niederdorla should provide a bit of a tourist tailwind. It takes place every five years. And the emphasis is on AM center point. It’s hardly about the center. It’s more about the festival, as Christian Hecht says: “The local clubs have fun for young and old practically all day long. The fire brigade recreates volumes, the local German Red Cross group shows how to put on quick bandages. And the locals open their farm gates and bake cakes.”
This is also how you can market yourself:
Opinion souvenirs of Saarland
Opinion Kalauer as a campaign
Well, quite nice. Would a celebration AT THE center perhaps also be conceivable? Why not, says Christian Hecht. “Here you could show the former center of the Federal Republic of Germany within the old borders in an exhibition. Or the center of the GDR. And you could invite all the other midpoint communities and show how the midpoints were determined using different measurement methods.”
No arguments are to be expected about which geographical center is the real one. The Federal Office of Cartography and Geodesy in Leipzig assures us upon request that there is no official center. Everyone has their own right to exist. Perhaps the centerpiece celebration could become more of an exchange of experiences. On the topic: What ingredients can be used to turn a center into an experience? Just like a bratwurst with Thuringian bratwurst.
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