The
Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the
Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the
Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of
Northern Germany; it is located near
Schierke in the German state of
Saxony-Anhaltbetween the rivers
Weser and
Elbe. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below
alpine dimensions, its
microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the
tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and
fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9
°C (37.2
°F). It is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany; travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the
Ural Mountains in Russia.
The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with
witches and
devils;
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the legends in his play
Faust. The
Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects.
FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of the Brocken. The old television tower, the
Sender Brocken, is now used as hotel and restaurant. It also has an observation deck, open to tourists.
Geography[edit]
Location[edit]
The Brocken rises over the
Harz National Park in the borough of
Wernigerode, whose main town lies about 12 kilometres east-northeast of the mountain. The state boundary with
Lower Saxony runs past the Brocken some 2 km to the west. At the southeastern foot of the Brocken lies the spa resort of
Schierke.
Somewhat to the north below the summit of the Brocken is a reservoir, the
Brockenteich, constructed in 1744. On or near the mountain are the source areas of the rivers
Bode,
Ecker,
Ilse and
Oder. The rounded summit of the Brocken is treeless, but vegetated with
dwarf shrubs.
Summit and subpeaks[edit]
The highest point on the Brocken reaches an elevation of
1,141.1 m above sea level. Its subpeaks include the
Heinrichshöhe(
1,040 m),
Königsberg (
1,034 m) and Kleiner Brocken ("Little Brocken") (
1,018 m).
Before 1989 the height of the Brocken was recorded in almost all the relevant maps and books as
1,142 m above NN. A survey of the summit at the beginning of the 1990s based on the current reference system, however, gave the height as just
1,141.1 m. In order to provide a reference point for the old data, in the mid-1990s granite boulders were set on the highest point of the Brocken, which not only matched the old given height, but exceeded it by about a metre. A bench mark of "1142 m" was recorded on the summit stone. This height on the upper plate refers to the line on the lower plate.
[1]
Geology[edit]
From a geological point of view the Brocken and its surrounding terrain, the Brocken massif, consists mainly of
granite (called Brocken granite), an igneous rock. The
granitic plutons of the Harz - the Brocken, Ramberg and Oker plutons - emerged towards the end of the Harz mountain-building phase of the
Upper Carboniferous, about 300 million years ago. First, alkaline
magma intruded into the overlying sediments, crystallized out and formed
gabbro and
diorite massifs, such as the Harzburg gabbro. A little later,
silica-rich granitic magma rose, some intruding into voids and gaps in the older rocks, but most being created by the melting of existing sediments. On the boundary between granite and host rock, the so-called contact zone, a great variety of transitions may be seen. For example, the summit of the
Achtermannshöhe consists of contact-metamorphosed
hornfels of the contact zone that, here, lies over the Brocken granite. The subsequent erosion of the Harz mountains that followed the uplifting of the Harz during the
Upper Cretaceous saw the disappearance of the protective hornfels summit, thus exposing the granite that had crystallized underground during the Upper Carboniferous. The alleged hardness of Brocken granite is not the reason for the height of the mountain, but the geological fact that it was well protected by its weather-resistant hornfels crest for a long time before erosion set in.
Only in recent geological times, since the
tertiary period, did the typical, rounded,
spheroidal weathering of granite outcrops and granite boulders of the Brocken take place. Such
blockfields are very rare in Central Europe outside the Alps and are subject to conservation measures. They originated mainly under periglacial conditions, i.e. during the course of the
ice ages, and their retreat. Today's blockfields of Brocken granite, as well as other rocks in the Harz National Park, particularly in the Oder valley, are therefore at least 10,000 years old. Physical weathering, such as
frost shattering, has played a key role in their formation, resulting in giant piles of loosely-stacked rocks. In 2006, the granite blockfields of the Brocken, together with 76 other interesting geotopes, were designated as a "National Geotope".
[2]
Climate[edit]
Brocken tower in winter (2001)
The Brocken is a place of extreme weather conditions. Due to its exposed location in the north of Germany its peak lies above the natural
tree line. The
climate on the Brocken is like that of an alpine location or even that of
Iceland's 1,600 – 2,200 m zone. This is due to its short summers and very long winters, with many months of continuous snow cover, strong storms and low temperatures even in summer.
Due to its significant height difference compared with the surrounding terrain the Brocken has the highest precipitation of any point in northern central Europe, with an average annual precipitation (1961–1990) of 1,814 millimetres. Its average annual temperature is 2.9 °C.
[3]
The Brocken weather station has recorded the following extreme values:
[4]
- Its highest temperature was 29.0 °C on 20 August 2012.
- Its lowest temperature was -28.4 °C on 1 February 1956.
- In 1973 it had 205 days of snow cover.
- Its greatest depth of snow was 380 cm on 14 and 15 April 1970.
- Its highest measured wind speed was 263 km/h on 24 November 1984.
- Its greatest annual precipitation was 2,335 mm in 1981.
- Its least annual precipitation was 984 mm in 1953.
- The longest annual sunshine was 2004.5 hours in 1921.
- The shortest annual sunshine was 972.2 hours in 1912.
The Brocken also holds the record for the greatest number of days of mist and fog in a single calendar year in Germany - 330 days in 1958
[5] - and has an average of 120 days of snowfall per year.
[6]
The harsh climate of the Brocken makes it a habitat for rare species. The mountain's summit is a
subalpine zone with flora and fauna almost comparable to those of north
Scandinavia and the
Alps. The Brocken is the only mountain in Germany's
Central Uplands whose summit lies above the
treeline, so that only very small
spruce grow there and much of it is covered by a
dwarf shrub heathland. In the
Brocken Garden, established in 1890, flora is nurtured by National Park employees and visitors are allowed to view it as part of regular guided tours. The garden does not just display plants from the Brocken, but also high mountain flora from other regions and countries.
Amongst the typical species of the Brocken that are rarely if ever found elsewhere in North Germany and which occur above about
1,050 m above NN are the variant of the
Alpine Pasqueflower known as the
Brocken flower or
Brocken anemone(
Pulsatilla alpina subsp. alba),
hawkweeds like the Brocken Hawkweed (
Hieracium negrescens) and the Alpine Hawkweed (
Hieracium alpinum),
vernal grasses (
Anthoxanthum), the
Lady's Mantle (
Alchemilla), the
Tormentil (
Potentilla tormentilla), the
Alpine Clubmoss (
Diphasiastrum alpinum), the lichens,
Iceland Moss (
Cetraria islandica) and
Reindeer Lichen (
Cladonia rangiferina). The
Crowberry is also referred to here as the Brocken Myrtle (
Brockenmyrte).
Several animal species have adapted to the conditions of life on the Brocken. For example, the
Water Pipit (
Anthus aquaticus) and the
Ring Ouzel both breed in the area around the summit.
The
Viviparous Lizard occurs on the Brocken in a unique, dark-colored variant,
Lacerta vivipara aberr. negra. The
common frog (
Rana temporaria) can also be found here. Insects are very numerous. There are many
beetles including
ground beetlessuch as
Amara Erratica, and hundreds of species of
butterfly. The
Cabbage White here only produces one generation per year compared with two in the lowlands.
History[edit]
Overview plan of the Brocken summit
Map of the Brocken, L.S. Bestehorn, 1732
(note the witches)
Ascent, construction and use[edit]
The first ascent of the Brocken was documented in 1572 by the physician and botanist, Johannes Thal from
Stolberg, who in his book
Sylva Hercyniadescribed the
flora of the mountain area. In 1736 Count Christian Ernst of
Stolberg-Wernigerode had the
Wolkenhäuschen ("Clouds Cabin") erected at the summit, a small refuge that is still preserved. He also had a mountain lodge built at the southern slope, named
Heinrichshöhe after his son Henry (
Heinrich) Ernest. The first inn on the Brocken summit was built around 1800.
View of the Brocken from the Heinrich Heine Way. In the foreground the
Brocken Railway (2008)
View from the weather observation platform of the weather station on the Brocken peak (2006)
The
narrow gauge Brocken Railway was opened on 27 March 1899.
Brocken stationis one of the highest railway stations in Germany lying at a height of
1,125 m above NN. Its gauge is
1,000 mm (
3 ft 3 3⁄8 in). In 1935 the
Deutsche Reichspost made the first
television broadcast from the Brocken using a mobile transmitter and, in the following year, the first television tower in the world was built on the mountain; carrying the first
live television broadcast of the
Summer Olympics in
Berlin. The tower continued functioning until September 1939, when the authorities suspended broadcasting on the outbreak of
World War II.
During an air attack by the
U.S. Air Force on 17 April 1945 the Brocken Hotel and the weather station were destroyed by bombing. The television tower, however, survived. From 1945 until April 1947, the Brocken was occupied by
US troops. As part of the exchange of territorial (specified at the
Yalta Conference) the mountain was transferred to the
Soviet occupation zone. Before the Americans left the Brocken in 1947, however, they disabled the rebuilt weather station and the television tower.
The ruins of the Brocken Hotel were blown up in 1949. From 1948 to 1959 part of the Brocken was reopened to tourists. Although a pass was required, these were freely issued. From August 1961 the Brocken, which lay in
East Germany's border zone, immediately adjacent to
West Germany, was declared an out-of-bounds area and was therefore not open to the public. Extensive military installations were built on and around the summit was exploited. The security of the area was the responsibility of the border guards of the
7th Schierke Border Company, which was stationed in platoon strength on the summit. For accommodation, they used Brocken railway station. The
Soviet Red Army also used a large portion of territory. In 1987, the goods traffic on the Brocken Railway ceased due to poor track conditions.
The Brocken was extensively used for surveillance and espionage purposes. On the summit were two large and powerful listening posts. One belonged to Soviet military intelligence, the
GRU and was also the westernmost outpost of Moscow; the other was Department III of the
Ministry for State Security in the
GDR. The listening posts were codenamed "Yenisei" and "Urian".
[8] Between 1973 to 1976 a new modern television tower was built for the second channel of the
GDR-TV. Today it is used by the public
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) television network. The
Stasi (East German secret police) used the old tower until 1985, when they moved to a new building – now a museum. To seal the area, the entire Brocken plateau was then surrounded by a concrete wall, built from 2,318 sections, each one 2.4 tons in weight and 3.60 metres high. The whole area was not publicly accessible until December 3, 1989. The wall has since been dismantled, as have the Russian barracks and the domes of their listening posts. Today the old tower beside the lodge again is home to a weather station of the
Deutscher Wetterdienst.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 3 December 1989 the Brocken was again open to the public during a demonstration walk.
[9] With
German reunification there was a gradual reduction in border security facilities and military installations from 1990. The last Russian soldier left the Brocken on 30 March 1994. The Brocken summit was renaturalised at a cost of millions of euros. It is now a popular tourist destination for visitors to the Harz.
As a
protected area since 1939 and due to the decades of restricted access the unique climate of the Brocken provided outstanding conditions. The massif is partly still covered with
primary forest extremely rare in Germany. It provides perfect conditions for endangered and nearly extinct species like the
Eurasian Lynx,
Wildcatsand
Capercaillies. The Brocken was therefore declared part of a
national park in 1990.
Name and significance[edit]
The widespread use of the name "Brocken" did not occur until towards the end of the
Middle Ages. Hitherto the region had just been described as the Harz. This was primarily because, until then, the focus had been mining.
[10] The first record of a placename that resembles the present name of the mountain goes back, however, to the year 1176 when it is referred to as
broke in the
Saxon World Chronicle (
Sächsische Weltchronik).
[11] Another early written reference to the mountain, this time as the
Brackenberg, appears in 1490 in a letter from Count Henry of Stolberg.
[12] Other early documented names of the Brocken were, in 1401, the
Brockenberg, in 1424 the
Brocberg, in 1495
mons ruptus (Latin), in 1511 the
Brogken and
Brockin, in 1531 the
Brogken, in 1540 the
Brokenberg and, in 1589, the
Brackenberg.
[13] In Old Saxon-Germanic times, a large portrait of Wodin is supposed to have been found on the Brocken. In addition, animal and human sacrifices were offered by the Saxons to their supreme god, Odin, on the
blockfields of the summit until they renounced them as part of their baptismal vows when Christianity spread to the region under Charles the Great.
[14]
As far as the origin of the name is concerned, there are several interpretations: In the town records (
Stadtbuch) of
Osterwieck an entry for the Brocken was found in the year 1495 under the
Latin name of
mons ruptus, which means "broken hill".
[11] Its
Low German name,
broken, as the mountain had become named in 1176 in the Saxon World Chronicle and also in
English, means "broken". On the one hand, this explanation of its meaning can be attributed to the fact that the two mountains, "Kleiner Brocken" and "Großer Brocken", were formed by the breakup of a single massif.
[10] On the other hand, its meaning may refer to the serious
erosion of the mountain. In other words it refers to the fact that the Brocken was eroded or "broken down" to its present size.
[15]
But the most likely derivation of the name comes from the shape of the mountain as a whole. A
brocken in German is a large, shapeless mass. The size of the Brocken may thus have given it its name. Since the term "block" has a similar meaning, this could also be the derivation of its alternative name, the Blocksberg.
[10]The true origin of the name Blocksberg, however, should not be seen as "block" in the sense of "mass", but rather the German word
block (as in block of wood) in witchcraft.
[16]
Another theory holds that the name "Brocken" is derived from
bruch, a word used in northern Germany for
bog or
moor, which commonly used to be spelt as
bruochor
brok.
[12] It is however doubtful that this fact was primarily responsible for its name.
[10] Another possibility is that its name is derived from the fields of boulders strewn over the summit and the slopes of the mountain. This derivation for the name "Brocken" is, however, unlikely
[15] because such blockfields are also found on other mountains in the Harz. Moreover, the regions concerned were hardly known at the time when the term was used.
[10] Another presumption is based on the reference in a letter written in 1490 by Count Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode, where he uses the term
Brackenberg. However the suggestion that this referred to old, unusable timber, which was called
Bracken, is disputed.
[12]
Tourism[edit]
At the summit is the Brockenhaus with a museum on the history of the mountain and the Brocken Garden (a botanical garden), which is managed by the
Harz National Park. In addition there are restaurants and the Brocken Hotel, which is run by the Brocken publican (
Brockenwirt), Hans Steinhoff. Important publicans in the past included Johann Friedrich Gerlach from 1801 to 1834, Carl Eduard Nehse between 1834 and 1850, who brought out a map of the Brocken in 1849 and the Brocken Register (
Brockenstammbuch) in 1850, as well as Rudolf Schade from 1908 to 1927, who considerably increased the repute and the size of guest facilities on the Brocken.
[12]
Signpost on the Brocken Road (
Brockenstraße)
The area around the Brocken is especially popular with hikers. The
Goethe Way(
Goetheweg) is a well known trail that leads to the summit of the Brocken. It is named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who more-or-less followed this route in 1777. Many paths lead to the local towns of Schierke,
Braunlage and
Sankt Andreasberg. The 100 km long
Harz Witches' Path also runs from the Brocken eastwards to
Thaleand westwards via Torfhaus and
Altenburg to
Osterode. The "Bad Harzburg Devil's Path" runs from the Brocken to
Bad Harzburg.
Mountain bikers also use the trails.
From Schierke from a metalled road leads to the summit,
[17] which is used by horse-drawn wagons, as well as
touring and
racing cyclists. Because of the situation in the National Park, vehicles with internal combustion engines are only allowed with special permission.
Worthy of special mention is the bearer of the Badge of Honour of Saxony-Anhalt, Benno Schmidt (b. 1932) - also known as Brocken Benno - of Wernigerode, who has climbed the mountain since 1989, almost daily, with more than 7,000 ascents (as of May 22, 2013) and whose feat has been registered in the
Guinness Book of World Records.
Aerial photograph of the summit (2009)
Two well-known running events pass over the Brocken: the
Ilsenburg Brocken Run (beginning of September, 26 kilometres, of which 12 kilometres uphill, has taken place since the 1920s) and the
Brocken Marathon which is part of the
Harz Mountain Run with its start and finish south of Wernigerode. Both start in the valley, climb the Brocken and return. The most challenging part in each case is the last four kilometres to the Brocken summit, for which in both races, a separate
mountains classification is given. This section is a concrete slab track with a steady incline of about 20% and the runners are exposed above the tree line, often to a sharp, icy wind. Of the just under 1,000 people who usually achieve it, only 50 negotiate this section without stopping to walk.
Since 2004, the Brocken Challenge, an
ultra marathon 84 kilometres long from
Göttingen to the Brocken summit, has been staged in February each year. The proceeds from this event go to charity. The runs are conducted in accordance with the rules of the National Park.
The 87 kilometre-long "Brocken Climb" from Göttingen to the Brocken has taken place annually since 2003. More than 300 people take part in these two-day hikes in June.
In early May each year the Brunswick-Brocken Ultra Run takes place with 2x75 km legs spread over two days. The participants run from Brunswick to Schierke, cross the Brocken, overnight in Schierke and run back again the next day. Overall, it is therefore a 150 kilometre race.
Buildings on the Brocken[edit]
The Brocken: buildings and installations (as at: 2006)
Transmission site[edit]
Since the 1930s various radio and television transmitters have been erected on the Brocken, see
Brocken Transmitter.
Brocken House[edit]
Brocken House (
Brockenhaus), the modern information centre for the Harz National Park, is located in the converted "
StasiMosque" (
Stasi-Moschee), a former surveillance installation for the
Ministry for State Security. The historic antenna equipment in the dome may be visited. Behind the building is checkpoint no. 9 on the
Harzer Wandernadel hiking trail network.
Weather station[edit]
The extreme weather conditions of the Brocken are of special
meteorological interest. From 1836 the
Brockenwirt, who also ran the guest house and restaurant, kept meteorological records. The first
weather station on the Brocken was built in 1895. Technically poor and too small, it was partially demolished in 1912 and replaced with a large stone construction, the
Hellman Observatory, that was not completed until the
First World War. In 1917 the academic and nature lover, George Grobe, took over the running of the observation post, his daughter supporting him until his death in 1935.
[18] Today's weather station started life in 1939. Measurements were interrupted at the end of the Second World War as a result of military bombardment, but began again in 1947. On 16 March 2010 the Brocken Weather Station became a climate reference station to provide uninterrupted, long-term climatic observations.
[19]
Literary mentions[edit]
-
- Now to the Brocken the witches ride;
- The stubble is gold and the corn is green;
- There is the carnival crew to be seen,
- And Squire Urianus will come to preside.
- So over the valleys our company floats,
- With witches a-farting on stinking old goats.
- Goethe may have gained inspiration from two rock formations on the mountain's summit, the Teufelskanzel (Devil's Pulpit) and the Hexenaltar (Witches' Altar).
- The Brocken is similarly mentioned in many other literary and musical works based on Faust
- Another famous visitor on the Brocken, author Heinrich Heine, wrote the book Harzreise ("A Harz Journey") published in 1826. He says:
-
- The mountain somehow appears so Germanically stoical, so understanding, so tolerant, just because it affords a view so high and wide and clear. And should such mountain open its giant eyes, it may well see more than we, who like dwarfs just trample on it, staring from stupid eyes.
- The summit register entry Many stones, tired bones, views: none, Heinrich Heine ("Viele Steine, müde Beine, Aussicht keine, Heinrich Heine") is a popular, though unsourced phrase related to the weary ascent and the mostly foggy conditions.
- The teacher Heinrich Pröhle collected the Brockensagen tales and legends as well as the etymology of the geographic names in the Harz. He carefully examined the Teufelskanzel and the Hexenaltar, mentioned above.
- Slothrop and Geli Tripping experience the famous Brocken Spectre in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, as the Mittelbau-Dora labour camp in the Harz mountains north of Nordhausen from 1943 was the home of the V-2 rocket production. In David Foster Wallace's Pynchon-influenced Infinite Jest the characters Remy Marathe and Hugh Steeply also experience the Brocken spectre on a ridge in the desert outside Tucson.
The Brocken in popular culture[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- Jump up^ www.harzlife.de accessed on 13 July 2010.
- Jump up^ Friedhart Knolle, Béatrice Oesterreich, Rainer Schulz und Volker Wrede: Der Harz. Geologische Exkursionen. Perthes-Exkursionsführer, Justus Perthes Verlag Gotha, Gotha 1997
- Jump up^ DWD - Klimadaten Mittelwerte accessed on 8 October 2010
- Jump up^ 110 Jahre Wetterbeobachtungen auf dem Brocken accessed on 8 October 2010
- Jump up^ DWD Weltrekorde - Nebel accessed on 8 October 2010
- Jump up^ http://www.harz-seite.de/klima.htm
- Jump up^ A comprehensive account of this famous Gaussian survey may be found, for example, in Charles Kittel et al., Berkeley Physik Kurs 1, Mechanik, 5., verbesserte Auflage, Brunswick/Wiesbaden, 1991, p. 5, (Scan at GoogleBooks)
- Jump up^ Objekt URIAN – Abhörstation Brocken auf lostplaces.de
- Jump up^ http://www.ndr.de/geschichte/grenzenlos/begegnungen/brocken120.html
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Gerhard Eckert: Der Brocken, Berg in Deutschlands Mitte. gestern und heute. Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum 1994, ISBN 3-88042-485-3
- ^ Jump up to:a b Georg von Gynz-Rekowski, Hermann D. Oemler: Brocken. Historie, Heimat, Humor. Gerig Verlag, Königstein/Taunus 1991, ISBN 3-928275-05-4
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d Thorsten Schmidt, Jürgen Korsch: Der Brocken, Berg zwischen Natur und Technik. Schmidt-Buch-Verlag, Wernigerode 1998, ISBN 3-928977-59-8
- Jump up^ Walther Grosse: Geschichte der Stadt und Grafschaft Wernigerode in ihren Forst-, Flur- und Straßennamen, Wernigerode [1929], p. 49
- Jump up^ G.G.Bredow: Umständlichere Erzählung der merkwürdigen Begebenheiten aus der allgemeinen Weltgeschichte. Sechste Auflage, Hammerich-Verlag, Altona 1817, p. 526–528
- ^ Jump up to:a b C. E. Nehse: Der Brocken und seine Merkwürdigkeiten. 1840
- Jump up^ Eduard Jacobs: Der Brocken in Geschichte und Sage. Pfeffer, Halle 1879
- Jump up^ Höhenprofil der Brockenstraße (mit Anschluss bis Elend)
- Jump up^ Kurt Glaß: Geschichte der Wetterwarte Brocken von den Anfängen bis 1950 in: Unser Harz, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Heft 07/1990
- Jump up^ Press conference of the DWD at the opening of the Brocken Weather Station as a climate reference station accessed on 8 October 2010.
External links[edit]
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