Braunlage is a town and health resort in the Goslar district in Lower Saxony in Germany. It lies within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken.
Nowadays Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly ski tourists. Good ski resorts nearby are the Sonnenberg and the slopes on the Wurmberg.
Geography
The town consists of three districts:
- Braunlage
- Hohegeiß
- Königskrug
Braunlage is situated at the Bundesstraßen No. 4 running from Braunschweig to Nordhausen and No. 27 from Blankenburg to Göttingen.
History
Braunlage started out as a pit settlement in the forest first mentioned as
brunenlohe in a 1253 deed, which was revived, when the
Counts of Blankenburg established an
ironworks in 1561. With the County Braunlage fell to the
Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1599. In the 17th century it was a small market town, finally in 1934 it received
town privileges and the municipal status as a health resort.
In 1963 it became the location of the longest gondola lift (of Northern Germany), with a length of 2.8 kilometers and a height difference of 400 meters to the mountain station on the Wurmberg mountain, see Wurmberg Aerial Tramway.
On 7 May, 1964 Gerhard Zucker demonstrated on the Hasselkopf hill a flight of mail rockets. One of these rockets exploded, killing three people.
Demographics
| Year
| Inhabitants |
| 1821
| 1,691
|
| 1848
| 2,473
|
| 1871
| 2,288
|
| 1885
| 2,489
|
| 1905
| 3,408
|
| 1925
| 4,520
|
|
| Year
| Inhabitants |
| 1933
| 4,893
|
| 1939
| 4,981
|
| 1946
| 9,489
|
| 1950
| 9,334
|
| 1956
| 7,523
|
|
| Year
| Inhabitants |
| 1961
| 7,163
|
| 1968
| 7,716
|
| 1970
| 7,249
|
| 1975
| 7,266
|
| 1980
| 7,140
|
|
| Year
| Inhabitants |
| 1985
| 6,776
|
| 1990
| 6,148
|
| 1995
| 5,998
|
| 2000
| 5,476
|
| 2005
| 5,142
|
|
Politics
Town council
2006 local elections:
- CDU: 7 seats
- SPD: 5 seats
- Bürgerliste: 4 seats
Culture and sights
Sports
The local hockey team
Harzer Wölfe is an important part of the northern German Ice Hockey Culture.
External links
References
