Osterwieck is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). The city lies on the southern slope of the Großer Fallstein and on the right bank of the Ilse.
A list of all listed buildings in the municipality can be found in the list of cultural monuments in Osterwieck.
The local history museum on the market square is located in the
oldest house in Osterwieck. It was first mentioned in 1265 and expanded
in the 15th century. It served as the town hall for a long time. The
collection contains sections on the history of the city of Osterwieck,
starting with prehistoric exhibits.
memorials
Bismarck Tower
Graves in the local cemetery for 16 people who were known by name and
who were deported to Germany during the Second World War and became
victims of forced labour, as well as two unknown Red Army soldiers and a
German of Jewish origin who was known by name.
Today's St. Stephani Church is one of the two oldest churches in
Osterwieck, along with the smaller Nikolaikirche. It had fallen into
disrepair but was reopened after extensive renovations. Its two towers,
53 and 54 meters high, date from the first half of the 12th century. The
spiers were added in the 16th century; the towers were newly covered
with slate in 1983. The westwork of the church is of Romanesque origin,
while the chancel was rebuilt in 1516, the year before the Reformation.
In between is the nave, whose predecessor, which had become dilapidated
due to flooding and age, was renovated in 1552-1557. The master builders
managed to leave the choir and altar in the Catholic character, while
the hall is kept in the style of the Reformation. St. Stephani is thus
the first Reformation town church building. The neighboring Hornburg
church is younger and the nave of Osterwieck was even a model for the
main church in Wolfenbüttel. Worked into the arcade arches are 240
sandstone reliefs, which testify to the tremendous self-confidence of
the families, craftsmen and guilds who had themselves immortalized
there. In addition to the eye-catching gemstones, there are unusual
signs and prongs in the normal bricks. Such engravings were made by
stonemasons to advertise their work. There has been a church building
association since 1990, which undertook a comprehensive renovation of
the church.
The Church of St. Nikolai also dates from the Romanesque
period. It is located on Nikolaikirchgasse and, like St. Stephani,
belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Osterwieck in the church
district of Halberstadt.
The Catholic Church of St. Joseph was built
in 1888 in the Neo-Romanesque style. It is named after Joseph of
Nazareth and is located on the pond dam. From 2010 the church belonged
to the parish of St. Bonifatius based in Wernigerode, in 2022 it was
profaned.
Historic old town with Gothic, Renaissance, Classicist and Lower
Saxon half-timbered buildings. Numerous buildings have been renovated.
The only complete farm complex in the middle of the city is the
Schäferhof, which dates back to 1527 according to an inscription on a
bar. In the meantime, however, people are of the opinion that the
neighboring high-stand house could be a lot older and possibly the
oldest house in town. In the Schäferhof there is a pigeon tower from
1704.
The Bunte Hof at Rössingstrasse 5 was built between 1579 and
1582 by Ludolph I von Rössing, whose family had owned property there
since the mid-15th century. It remained in the possession of the Barons
of Rössing until 1847. Today only the south wing remains. This is
probably where the Bavarian Duke Otto von Northeim allied himself with
Saxon nobles against King Henry IV in the Saxon War around 1070.
The
district of Zilly is characterized by a late medieval castle complex and
several large farms.
The Hessen Castle is of great importance for the
history of the Hessen district. It experienced its heyday under Heinrich
Julius, since 1589 Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
In the district of Berßel there is an old
manor.
According to the widely handed down official legend, the place
was first mentioned when Charlemagne crossed the Oker in his
campaigns against the pagan Saxons in 780 and founded a church “in
the place Saligenstede”. This first church is said to have been
dedicated to St. Stephen and to have become the seat of a mission
center, of which Hildegrim was supposedly appointed director.
Hildegrim is attested as a deacon for 796 and only became bishop of
Chalons in 803. The mission center is said to have moved from
Seligenstadt to Halberstadt around 804.
According to recent
research, this founding myth is based on the Gesta episcoporum
Halberstadensium, the level "H" of which was written during the last
years of Bishop Hildeward's episcopate. A clergyman close to
Hildeward is assumed to be the author, although there are
indications that the bishop himself may have had a share in the
chronicles. The text analysis shows that the presentation of the
10th century is based on the orally transmitted memories of the
bishops, while there were no traditions for the 8th and 9th
centuries and the author embellished the chronicle to exaggerate the
importance of the Diocese of Halberstadt .
In 974, Emperor
Otto II gave the diocese "coins and customs in Seligenstadt". The
certificate of April 1, 974 became the basis for the 1000th
anniversary celebration in 1974. Otto II also granted the town
market and traffic rights (mercatus), and it also became the oldest
mint in the Halberstadt diocese. Freedom from tariffs and the right
to collect tariffs were other significant privileges. The place was
called Ostrewic, then called "common Asterwiek". The new name
appears in writing for the first time in 1073 in a letter from
Archbishop Liemar von Bremen to Bishops Hezilo von Hildesheim and
Burchard II von Halberstadt. It is about his feud with the Bishop of
Verden and Count Hermann von Lüneburg.
Allegedly the city was
almost completely burned down in 1511, but there is no written
evidence of this. In the town book, which has been kept since 1353,
the Osterwieck town clerk recorded a great flood of water for 1495,
but there is no report of a devastating fire of 1511. It can be
assumed that there were individual fires, but that the city never
completely burned down. Many of the houses built in the following
time survived the subsequent conflagrations, most recently in 1844,
when around 30 houses were destroyed. The core of the city center
was renovated in the 1970s: 100 houses were listed, and the entire
city with its 400 half-timbered houses is now protected. In addition
to the twin town of Hornburg, which is only ten kilometers away, the
municipality with almost 4,000 inhabitants is one of the most
beautiful half-timbered towns in Germany today. The city has an
almost completely closed downtown ensemble of all Lower Saxon
half-timbered styles from 500 years: the Lower Saxon style offers
braided ribbons and ship throats, at the time of the Renaissance, in
addition to Latin verses, inextricable magic knots, runes and trees
of life were the fashion. The fact that the common Lower Saxon
half-timbered tradition connects, shows the official inclusion of
Osterwieck and Wernigerode in the German half-timbered street, the
course of which already included such important places as Celle,
Quedlinburg and Goslar.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the
glove industry in Osterwieck played a major role. After the
reunification, most of the companies closed their doors, only the
paint factory is still in operation. Great hope is now associated
with tourism.
On January 1, 2010, the seven member communities of the Osterwieck-Fallstein administrative community, the communities of Aue-Fallstein, Berßel, Bühne, Lüttgenrode, Rhoden, Schauen, Wülperode and the city of Osterwieck merged to form the new city of Osterwieck. The earlier municipalities - the localities of this municipality near Aue-Fallstein - became the localities of Osterwieck. The area of the city increased from 22.05 km² to 212.67 km², the population from 3,735 to 12,348 (as of December 31, 2008).
Osterwieck has three primary schools, one secondary school and one
high school:
elementary school stage
Elementary school
"Sonnenklee" Osterwieck
Elementary school in Hesse
Thomas Mann
Secondary School (in the district of Dardesheim)
Fallstein High
School
The city of Osterwieck also has many childcare facilities
Day care
center "Little Strolche" Wülperode
Day care center "Adventureland"
Deersheim
“Fallsteinzwerge” day care center in Rhoden
“Hollerbusch” day care center in Hesse
Day care center "Ilsespatzen"
stage
Day care center "Lütti's Rascal Bande" Lüttgenrode
Day care
center “fairytale castle” Zilly
"Rohrspatzen" day care center in
Rohrsheim
Day care center “Sunshine” Berßel
Day care center
"Zwergenklus" Dardesheim
“Kinderland am Langenkamp” day care center
in Osterwieck
AWO Daycare Looks
AWO day care center "Children's
home on the Ilse" in Osterwieck
The focus of the economy is metal processing, mechanical engineering,
the chemical industry and regenerative electricity generation.
The largest and most well-known companies include Gleitlager und
Metallverarbeitung GmbH, Ramme-Elektro-Maschinen-Bau GmbH, Reinstmetalle
Osterwieck (Recylex), Alstab Surface Technology GmbH, Lankwitzer
Lackfabrik GmbH, Göschl Metallbau GmbH, Bio-Geflügelhof Deersheim, Borek
Kommunikation and the Druiberg wind farm .
West and
south of Osterwieck runs the A 36, which can be reached via the
Vienenburg-Ost, Abbenrode or Stapelburg junctions. The villages of the
community are accessed via the L87, L88 and L89.
The municipality
no longer has a railway connection. The Wasserleben–Börßum railway line
was once interrupted by the division of Germany and was only served to
the east of the border. The stations of Osterwieck, Osterwieck West,
Stötterlingen and Hoppenstedt were located in the urban area of
Osterwieck. Passenger traffic on the section to Osterwieck West was shut
down on September 28, 2002, the route is still preserved. The PlusBus
210 provides bus connections to Halberstadt and Vienenburg, which is
operated by the Harzer Verkehrsbetriebe. There are other bus connections
to Wernigerode.
Mayor
After the resignation of the mayor Ingeborg Wagenfuhr, Dirk
Heinemann (SPD) was elected the new mayor on September 26, 2021 with
60.9 percent of the votes in the first ballot. He took office on
December 1, 2021.
coat of arms
The coat of arms of the new
town of Osterwieck was approved by the district on March 18, 2011.
Blazon: “Quartered by silver and red; covered with a double rose
with hickeys in confused tinctures, field 2: seven (3:2:1:1) silver
stars, field 3: seven (2:3:2) silver stars.”
Coat of arms of the
district of Osterwieck
The coat of arms was approved on May 2, 1997
by the regional council of Magdeburg.
Blazon: "Split of silver
and red; topped with an inseminated double rose in mixed up tinctures.”
City colors are Silver (White) – Red.
The old diocese of
Halberstadt received the silver-red split shield from the emperor at an
early stage. The city of Osterwieck placed the rose in confused
tinctures on the shield of the Bishopric of Halberstadt, their lord. A
city seal from the 14th century already contains a five-petalled rose
(dog rose) to the left and right of Saint Stephen. Among other things,
coats of arms with the split rose in the shield are attached to the old
town hall in 1554. The rose has been used in the city seal since 1820.
Flag
The flag has red and white (1:1) stripes (longitudinal form:
stripes running vertically) and the center shows the coat of arms of the
unified community of the city of Osterwieck.
District flag
The
flag has red and white (1:1) stripes with the city coat of arms in the
middle.
Town twinning
Partnerships exist with Hornburg in
Lower Saxony, which is immediately adjacent but has been separated for
decades by the inner-German border, and with the communities of
Ardouval, Les Grandes-Ventes, Lisses and Saint-Hellier in France. The
twinning with Lisses was established in 1995 by Aue-Fallstein, who
joined Osterwieck in 2010.