With a breeze on a husky – near the mountain from “Faust” (photo) | Germany Information and Travel Tips | Dw

In Hasselfeld • One of the most famous German mountains, Brocken, is located in the forest region of the Harz. In the spring, on Walpurgis Night, witches flock to its summit. But tourists are attracted to the Harz not only by this legend and description in “Faust” – there are many other attractions for any time of the year. Among them is the Pullman City Harz theme park located near Brocken. The western-style city built on its territory, according to the organizers, is one of the largest such attractions in Germany.

Highlights of the local entertainment program include the annual dog sled race, which has been held here since 2001. Last year, due to the pandemic, they had to be canceled, but this time the races were held with the participation of 62 athletes.

Siberian huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Samoyeds and other four-legged animals had to pull bicycles and cards instead of sleds. The snow that had fallen the day before in the Harz was not enough; moreover, the soil was not sufficiently frozen. Many fans of sledding sports and holidaymakers in the region gathered to watch this exciting event. For all spectators and participants, with the exception of four-legged athletes, the 2G rule plus the mandatory coronavirus test was in effect.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  In the spring at the end of April, witches flock to Mount Brocken in the German Harz to celebrate Walpurgis Night. In any case, according to the legend immortalized in “Faust” by Goethe. Brocken (1141 m) is the highest point of the Harz mountain region, located in three federal states of Germany at once – Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony. Let’s take a look at its beauty at different times of the year.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Tourists have not yet learned how to fly on brooms, so to climb Brocken they prefer to use the 19-kilometer railway laid from Wernigerode more than a hundred years ago. Brockenbahn is not the only narrow gauge railway in the Harz. Their length here is 140 kilometers. Many were built to serve mines and other mining operations.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  About 10 percent of the territory of the Harz is occupied by the largest national forest park in Germany – Nationalpark Harz. In 2015, the region was included in the ranking of the country’s 100 most popular places among foreign tourists. In winter they are eager to go skiing, in summer – hikers. However, the Harz is rich in various attractions, interesting all year round and not only for fans of outdoor activities.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Among the exotic winter activities are dog sled racing. This exciting competition takes place in Hasselfeldt. There is a theme park for recreation and entertainment in the style of the Wild West – Pullman City Harz.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Easter bonfires (Osterfeuer, Ostermeiler) are a long tradition preserved in many regions of Germany. The first written mention is dated 1559. This photo was taken during such a holiday in the Upper Harz near the Lower Saxon resort of Altenau. In the Harz, Easter bonfires are made of brushwood and green spruce branches. They light them on the evening of Holy Saturday.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Let’s get acquainted with some of the inhabitants of the local forests. The Sparrow Owl is the smallest owl in Germany. It is under strict state protection. Harz is one of the places where they are most often found. Its other feathered inhabitants include eagle owls, peregrine falcons, red kites, variegated and black woodpeckers, jays and mountain wagtails. Meanwhile, spring is already in full swing …

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  The seasons in the Harz

  To take part in the celebration of May Day Walpurgis Night, there is no need to climb to the top of Brocken, and there is not enough room for everyone. This event attracts tens of thousands of tourists from all over the country to the Harz every year. Demand determines supply, so covens are held everywhere. For example, in the city of Wernigerode – by the way, famous for its half-timbered houses.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Every year on the Sunday before the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, traditional folk festivals take place in the Harz, dedicated to the first herding of herds to summer pastures. Particularly famous among them are the holidays in the Tanne and Schierke districts. In Harz they breed their own special red cow breed (Harzer Rotvieh), very old and well adapted to mountain conditions.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Brocken anemones or anemones (Brockenanemonen) in the Harz mountain botanical garden. It was founded at Brocken in 1890. Now there are about 1800 plant species, typical, for example, of the alpine regions of Switzerland. The garden is open from May to mid-October. About 6.5 thousand people visit it annually.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  The nature of the region has been admired by generations of travelers and artists. The author of this 1854 landscape is Georg Heinrich Crola. He was so fascinated by the beauties of the Harz that he even settled here for a while. In 1828, the artist rented an apartment in the city of Ilsenburg, and then set up a workshop in Wernigerode Castle – at the invitation of its noble owner.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  A characteristic feature of the landscapes is a dense shady forest, which is especially popular with hikers. The trees are dominated by beech, ash, rock oak, mountain ash and maple. The bowels of the Harz are rich in minerals. Mining trades appeared here in the Middle Ages. In the pre-industrial era, that is, before the invention of steam engines and electricity, water was used to drive various mechanisms.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  In the 16th-19th centuries, a special system was created to supply water to the mines in the Harz. It consisted of 107 ponds, 300 kilometers of ditches and numerous underground canals. The water industry of the Upper Harz (Oberharzer Wasserregal) is one of the largest such historical monuments in the world. In 2010, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  While enjoying the landscape beauty of the Harz, we note that the nearby city of Goslar and the Rammelsberg mine are also included in the list of World Heritage Sites, which are definitely worth a look. These attractions are located in Lower Saxony, and the Upper Harz Waterworks in Saxony-Anhalt.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  The following regional tradition of the Harz, dating back to the 15th century, has been added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. We are talking about competitions of songbirds, or rather finches (Finkenmanöver). Now about 50 people are fond of this hobby in the region, but earlier it was very widespread here. The photo was taken during the bird singing tournament in Bennekenstein.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  You can get acquainted with other folk traditions and culture of the Harz at one of the folklore festivals held in different places. Among them – the festival on the Day of the Holy Trinity on Polsterberg (Polsterberg), the festival of roses in Bad Lauterberg (Bad Lauterberg) and the festival of mountain meadow flowers in the resort of St. Andreasberg (Sankt Andreasberg).

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Summer is coming to an end – hay making time. The picture was taken on one of the last days of August in the vicinity of the town of Wegeleben, located in the foothills of the Harz in Saxony-Anhalt.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Fans of medieval romance will love the Sehusafest, which takes place on the first weekend of September in the Lower Saxon town of Seesen. It is considered the largest historical festival of its kind in Northern Germany. The number of costumed participants exceeds a thousand people. It attracts over 20 thousand visitors every year.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Autumn time in the Harz. The top of this 400-meter-high granite rock Roßtrappe, in translation – “Horse Trail”, can be reached by lift, walk or drive. It is located in the vicinity of the city of Thale. The name is associated with the legend of the royal daughter, fleeing from the pursuit of a giant. At the place where the princess’s horse jumped off the cliff, you can still see the trace of his hoof …

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  The seasons in the Harz

  “Devil’s Wall” (Teufelsmauer) is a chain of sandy rocks about 20 kilometers long on the northern border of the Harz. Many legends are associated with these places, therefore, back in the middle of the 19th century, the rocks were taken under protection, and the harvesting of sandstone was prohibited. In 1936, one of the sites was declared a protected area – one of the oldest in Germany, and in 2006 they were included in the list of the most important German geotopes.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  In 2000, the Harz National Park began a program to return to the wild the region of the lynx, which was completely exterminated here in 1818. In the first six years, a total of 24 predators were released into the forest. Now their number, as experts suggest, has increased to one and a half hundred, which has already been noticed by local hunters. Because of the lynx, they are increasingly left without prey.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  However, this does not apply to red deer. Due to climate warming and other changes in the ecological system, their population in the Harz has doubled in ten years. In 2015, the authorities decided to reduce their number by at least 2,500 and issued shooting licenses. True, such a scale drew criticism from local hunters, who declared the need for a more humane attitude towards animals.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Foggy October. Reservoir on the Söse river near the town of Osterode in the Lower Saxon part of the Harz. The dam was built in the early 1930s. There is a 9-kilometer walking route along the shore, and fishing is allowed in the reservoir itself.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  Burning charcoal is a long tradition in the Harz. The profession of a charcoal burner is one of the oldest handicraft professions. You can see how they worked in the open-air museum Harzköhlerei Stemberghaus in Hasselfeld. Charcoal was essential for metal processing and glass production. In the 17th century, the volume of its production in this region reached 30 thousand cubic meters annually.

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  The seasons in the Harz

  During our trip to the Harz, we have already mentioned the city of Wernigerode several times. Saying goodbye to the region, take a look at it on one of the foggy autumn evenings from the height of the local castle – the same one in which the film “The Same Munchausen” with Oleg Yankovsky was filmed.

  Author: Maxim Nelyubin

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