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The place where I was born
"History"
The origins of the health resort below the large Burgberg in the area of the Radau date back to times far more than 1000 years ago. There, at a heathen centre of cult worship, a large statue was located, the idol KRODO. He was considered to be the god of original elements and life, the symbol of health and fertility. This was definitely the best basis for the later health resort. According to legend, arlemagne, in the year 780, personally ordered the destruction of this monument and he erected a Christian chapel there. Furthermore, it was more than 925 years ago, that the emperor Heinrich IV., at the suggestion of his advisor, the archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, and under the direction of the bishop Benno of Osnabrück, had the Harzburg castle built for the purpose of consolidating his power in Saxony. This lasted from 1065 to 1068. The impregnable castle served also as protection for the Kaiserpfalz (emperor's castle) in Goslar and the Rammelsberg where silver and gold were found, and also as the emperor's residence and the seat of the Kolegiatstift, which the emperor planned to expand into a school for ecclesiastical dignitaries and officials in the service of the empire.
Bad Harzburg most likely developed from three communities, which existed either one after the other or partly at the same time:
Schulenrode the 'Rodung [clearing] in secret' (low German: schulen = hidden, lurking) in the uppper Krodo valley, the settlement is dated by excavations to the time of the 10th to 13th centuries.
Hartesborch in the lower Krodo valley is documented by a Latin document in the monastery at Ilsenburg, dated 6 December 1314, a settlement underneath the castle of the same name.
Neustadt beneath the Harzburg is first mentioned as a settlement in a document written in low German, dated 19 March 1338.
After changing times, which were connected not only with Heinrich IV. but also such historically important names as the emperor Barbarossa, Otto IV. and others, the castle was twice torn down and rebuilt and changed owners many times.
In the year 1569 the fateful day arrived, when the course of Bad Harzburg was set in the direction of today's city. At the foot of the mountain, a Solequelle (a salty water spring) was discovered, where then the saltworks Juliushall were founded, in order to dig the gold of those days. Duke Julius, after whom it was named, and who, according to historical tradition, ruled as an important statesman under the sovereigns of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1563-1589), would certainly have been astonished if he had been able to experience what became of his saltworks only about 250 years later.
In 1820 the Sole was first utilized for salt baths ("Solebäder"). After the closure of the saltworks in 1851, the health resort Bad Juliushall developed, and the resort hotel by the same name was built in the old saltwork buildings. Harzburg is indebted to the initiative of the ducal officer from Braunschweig, the counsellor Philip August of Amsberg, a great granduncle of the husband of queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who was the financial director, for this tremendous uplift. At his instigation, Germany's first state railway was built from Braunschweig via Wolfenbüttel to Harzburg in the years 1837 to 1841. With that endeavor, the rise of Harzburg had been initiated
The man with such farsight created a number of institutions, among them also the park area. 'Unter den Eichen' (under the oaks), the heart of the resort gardens, an extensive network of resort roads, different forest restaurants and the 'Radauwasserfall' (Radau waterfall).
With his participation, the Harzburger Aktiengesellschaft ( joint-stock company Harzburg) was founded in 1868,which then built the Hotel Harzburger Hof and the Kurhaus. Both were officially opened on 1 June, 1874 with much pomp and many prominent figures present.
And in 1892, the time had come: On 27 May, the ducal state ministry of Braunschweig-Lüneburg granted the permission for the municipality of Neustadt-Harzburg to use the name Bad Harzburg from then on.
