Altenau, Lower Saxony

This article is about the town in central Germany. For the river of the same name in the Harz, see Altenau (Oker). For other uses, see Altenau (disambiguation).

Altenau
Stadtteil of Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Saint Nicholas Church
Coat of arms
Location of Altenau
Altenau Altenau
Coordinates: 51°48′10″N 10°26′44″E
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Goslar
Town	Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Subdivisions	2 districts
Area
• Total	4.66 km2 (1.80 sq mi)
Elevation	460 m (1,510 ft)
Population  (2014-12-31)
• Total	1,758
• Density	380/km2 (980/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	38707
Dialling codes	05328
Vehicle registration	GS
Website	www.altenau.info

Altenau (German pronunciation: [ˈaltənaʊ] ^ⓘ) is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld.

It is situated in the middle of the Harz mountains, between Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the Brocken. It was part of the former Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Oberharz.

Geography

Districts

• Altenau
• Torfhaus

History

Altenau is an old mining town. First references about the town came in 1227 and later in 1298 and 1311. Also, in 1525 the first settler came to Altenau and founded a shooting club to protect themselves from attacks from local bandits. In 1532 the first mining at the area of Altenau was founded, later in 1540 and 1570 the minings Schatzkammer and Rose grow up. In the year 1579 Altenau got the first Preaster. At this time, Altenau was a village with 20 houses. In 1588, the first church was built, but it was taken down in 1669 to make today's Saint Nicolai Church. Later in 1617, Altenau got city law and grow up. The local mines end up in 1800, the smelter from 1690 ended in 1911. The first Tourism starts at the same time. In the 1970s the holiday residence Glockenberg was built by Philipp Holzmann . Today you will find in Altenau many hotels, shops, restaurants, a brewery from 1617, the Swimminghall from 2008 and the biggest park of herbs and spices (Kräuterpark).

Demographics

Year Inhabitants 1821 1,244 1848 1,963 1871 2,179 1885 2,145 1905 2,091 1925 1,914

Year Inhabitants 1933 1,947 1939 2,505 1946 2,744 1950 2,717 1956 2,442

Year Inhabitants 1961 2,304 1968 2,209 1970 2,250 1975 2,500 1980 2,522

Year Inhabitants 1985 2,541 1990 2,405 1995 2,287 2000 2,146 2005 1,980 2010 1,770 2013 1,643 2018 1,758

Sights

• Saint Nicholas Church, a Protestant wooden church with three naves, built in 1670
• The modern Catholic Saint Oliver Church of Altenau, built in 1976
• Park of Herbs and Spices
• Downtown with many wooden houses from the area of the 17th century.
• Brewery from 1617
• Swimminghall
• The former railway station of Altenau, a wooden building dating from 1914

Personals

• Wilhelm Knop

• Adolf Knop

• Hermine Hartleben

Politics

Town council

2006 local elections:

• SPD: 7 seats (54.16%)
• CDU: 6 seats (45.84%)

• 
  Town center
• 
  Saint Oliver Church
• 
  Former railway station
• 
  Side building, former railway station

External links

• Samtgemeinde Oberharz (in German)