Alfeld (Leine) () is a town in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. Located on the Leine river and situated approximately 20 km southwest of Hildesheim, it is the second biggest city in the district of Hildesheim in southern Lower Saxony and part of the Metropolitan region Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg. Alfeld is a member of the Leinebergland region and on the German Timber-Frame Road. With the Fagus Factory, Alfeld became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.
History
The town was founded before 1214, with the name
Alvelde recorded in 1214, 1221, and 1233. The toponymic element "-feld" means "open area", "an undeveloped, open field", or "an untilled field". "Al-" likely derives from the Indoeuropean root "el-/ol-" meaning "water", "damp", or "flowing".
In 1426, Alfeld joined the Saxon League of Towns, thus becoming an indirect member of the Hanseatic League. The town was one of the smallest cities in the Hanseatic League, but had become prosperous in the fourteenth and fifteenth century through its trade in beer, hops, linen, and yarn.
Alfeld originally belonged to the Diocese of Hildesheim, but was transferred to the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel after the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud (1519-1523). In retrospect, this Brunswick period constituted Alfeld's Golden Age, its economy and culture flourishing before the Thirty Years' War.
Main Sights
Sights in Alfeld include the town hall (1586) with its octagonal tower, the church Saint Nicolai and the Fillerturm, a medieval watchtower, and the
Fagus Factory of 1911, a fine example of early modernist architecture by
Walter Gropius. More famous are the
Sieben Berge (
German language:
Sieben Berge) in the north and the
Lippoldshöhle ("Lippold's cave"), where a legendary robber-knight is said to have lived.
Culture
The assertion that the popular fairy tale of
Snow White was born in Alfeld is false. Even though the miners who mined ore In the Seven Mountains believed in the existence of dwarfs, it is more likely that the cradle of the fairy tale is to be searched in France. The version the
brothers Grimm heard and wrote down, as they travelled through the Seven Mountains, on the so-called
Märchenstrasse (Street Of Fairytales) is just one of many.
The most popular beer in Alfeld is Einbecker Brauherrn, from Einbeck, about 12 kilometers or so, away, south of Alfeld. Veltins Pilsner, Flensberger Pils and Gottinger Pils are also popular beers in Alfeld.
Economy
The biggest employer of the city is the
Sappi (South African Pulp and Paper Industry) factory with its big chimney, which has become one of Alfeld's landmarks. Even more famous than SAPPI is the
Fagus Factory, rebuilt in 1910-1915 after the blueprints of architect Walter-Gropius, what is said to be trend-setting for modern architecture.
Popular culture
Alfeld is a strategically important town fought over repeatedly by
NATO and the Soviet
Red Army forces in
Tom Clancy novel
Red Storm Rising, due to the bridges over the
Leine River.
International relations
Alfeld is twinned with:
Notable people
-
Augustine of Alfeld (1480–1535), Franciscan and controversial theologian
-
Walter Kappe (1905–1944), German Nazi, who, as an emigrant in the US in the 1930s, created propaganda and committed espionage in service of Nazism
-
Uwe Schmidt (born 1954), German politician (SPD) and since July 2009, head of the district Kassel
-
Albrecht von Goertz (1914–2006), German industrial designer
-
Zbigniew Żedzicki (born 1945), Polish wrestler
See also
-
Metropolitan region Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg
-
SV Alfeld
External links
