Some 3,400 students live in Clausthal-Zellerfeld – an idyllic town located in the Harz National Park. While in Hannover you can enjoy city life, doing an internship at CUT, you may enjoy the outdoors life: Clausthal-Zellerfeld is the biggest town and the center of the upper Harz National Park:
The Harz National Park is the northernmost mountain chain of Germany – the land of fairy-tales. It is part of the European nature conservation network “Natura 2000” and offers an entire range of characteristic ecological systems, variations in height, slopes and rocks. The height varies from about 240 meters up to 1,142 meters on the Brocken peak (known as “Blocksberg” in Goethe`s “Faust”). You will find an ecologically complex landscape as well as different vegetation zones.
Scientific research has identified numerous habitats which are – based on Middle-European standards – quite close to natural state, such as the high and middle regions or zones of the Harz, rocky biotopes, (running) water systems and a large beech, spruce and mixed forest area. With its geographical location, beautiful landscapes and characteristic natural, environmental set-up and layout, the Harz National Park region is one of the most significant recreational areas within Central Europe. Rare animals of the Harz National Park include the dipper, the black stork, peregrine falcon and especially the lynx. The Harz Tourist Federation estimates more than 5 million overnight stays and approximately 10 million visits to the park area and its neighboring towns a year.
Clausthal-Zellerfeld, for example, is surrounded by some 80 lakes that have drinking water quality. Besides participating in the student life, there are numerous sports options to be involved in: hiking, mountain-biking, diving, sailing, windsurfing, fencing, canoeing etc. The romantic town with its half-timbered houses invites you to stroll through medieval streets. Or you may go on a trip on the nostalgic steam driven narrow gauge railway train, which can take you up to the peak of the Brocken. You may also enjoy the “underworld”, visiting one of the beautiful dripstone caves nearby.
The enchanting old imperial city of Goslar on the northern edge of the Harz National Park is a major tourist attraction. Here the Saxon and Silesian emperors built the largest Romanesque palace. For centuries this fascinating, monumental complex was their favorite abode in northern Germany. Forty-seven churches and chapels give the “Rome of the North” a unique skyline. Also worth visiting is the beautiful Old Town with the Gothic Town Hall standing on the lovely medieval market square. The Old Town has been added to the UNESCO´s World Heritage in 1992.
While staying in Clausthal-Zellerfeld we will also take you to the old ore-mines and to the World Heritage “Rammelsberg Mining Museum”. The Rammelsberg were the only mines in the world which were in operation for over 1,000 years without interruption. Ten centuries of mining history are documented in the Rammelsberg, which was shut down in 1988, leaving a large inventory of mining monuments: the slag heaps (10th century), the Rathstiefste Gallery (one of the oldest and best maintained galleries of German mining, 12th century), the Feuergezähe Vault (oldest underground stone-masonry mine chamber in Europe, 13th century), the Maltermeister Tower (the oldest above ground structure of German mining, 15th century), the Roeder Gallery (18th/19th century) with two original water wheels, and the above ground mining plant from the 1930’s.
Famous German poets such as Heine and Goethe toured the beautiful Harz region with its dense forests, lush ravines and picturesque waterfalls. Its countryside inspired some of their finest works, among them Heine´s “Harz Journey” (“Harzreise”) and Goethe´s immortal “Faust”. The Harz is filled with numerous legends – e.g. the local tales of witches dancing on the Brocken are described in “Walpurgis Night” and the stories of noble emperors and kings have provided material for many sagas.