Königsberg (Brocken)

The Hirschhorn Rocks (German: Hirschhornklippen or Hirschhörner) are a natural monument in the Harz National Park in central Germany.

The Kahle Klippe is a rock formation in the High Harz in central Germany on the eastern slope of the Brocken above the valley of the Ecker. It lies about halfway between the level crossing over the Hirtenweg path and the Ecker at a height of 1,011 metres above sea level. The rocks cannot be seen from the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz and the best view of them is from the village of Torfhaus. Because the rocks lie in the core zone of the Harz National Park, they may only be visited with the permission of the National Park management. It is one of the most difficult crags to reach in the High Harz. An old forest path runs past the rocks, passing within 100 metres. Below the Kahle Klippe lies the still inaccessible Brandklippe crag. See also: List of rock formations in the Harz

The Kalte Bode is the left-hand headstream of the Bode in the High Harz Mountains in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) long.

The Brocken Transmitter (German: Sender Brocken) is a facility for FM- and TV-transmitters on the Brocken, the highest mountain in Northern Germany. The facility includes two transmission towers. The old tower was built between 1936 and 1937. It is 53 metres high (including its antenna mast, which no longer exists, it had a height of 95 metres) and has an observation deck, which can be reached by elevator. This tower was intended to be used after 1939 for TV transmissions to central Germany, but due to the beginning of World War II, it was transformed into a radar facility. Unlike most modern TV towers, the old tower looks like a block of flats with a square cross section. The arrangement of the windows in the observation deck is similar to those in the restaurant in the Radio tower Berlin. In 1973 a new TV tower was built on Brocken. This 123-metre, freestanding steel-tube tower stands on three legs, which hold shafts for cable and stairways for personnel access. Above the legs are three decks for directional radio transmission aerials. The new TV tower is not accessible to the public. While Germany was divided into East and West, the Brocken transmitter was used for TV and FM-transmissions, even though it lay in the restricted area of the east-west frontier (on the Eastern Side). Its location so close to the border enabled it to be received in parts of the West. In the first half of the 1990s the transmitting aerial of the old tower was removed and replaced by a radome holding air traffic control radar equipment. The Brocken Transmitter is property of Deutsche Telekom.

The Eckerloch is a forested mountain valley, 845 metres above sea level near the village of Schierke in the Harz Mountains of central Germany.

The Brocken Garden (German: Brockengarten) is an alpine botanical garden on the summit of the Brocken (1,142 m above sea level), the highest peak in the Harz mountains of Germany. It lies within the Harz National Park near Wernigerode in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has a stock of around 1,600 types of plant. These include species that only grow in the Brocken region, like the Brocken anemone or alpine pasqueflower and the Brocken hawkweed, but its main focus is on alpine plants like the white dryad and the Swiss willow. It is open daily without charge.

The Brocken Pond (German: Brockenteich) is the name of a waterbody that was created in 1744 in the County of Wernigerode below the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz mountains of Germany. It is located in the present-day district of Harz. In a letter dated 12 August 1744 and written at the Brocken by Count Henry Ernest of Stolberg-Wernigerode to his father, Christian Ernest in Wernigerode, he reports amongst other things: that yesterday evening, about 1½ hours from the famous Brocken Pond, we even made a start on staking out some peat houses ... so that they can be timbered this autumn, started up in the winter [and in the spring ...] can be sorted out. Today we will continue staking them out, including two stone houses, specifically for the purpose of the workers.

The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between 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. Today the Brocken is part of the Harz National Park and hosts a historic botanical garden of about 1,600 alpine mountain plants. A narrow gauge steam railway, the Brocken Railway, takes visitors to the railway station at the top on 1,125 m (3,691 ft). 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.

Brocken station (German: Bahnhof Brocken) is the terminus on the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz in central Germany. It lies in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and is the end point of the Brocken Railway operated by the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways.

The Dreieckige Pfahl ("Triangular Post") is a historic boundary stone, about 1.35 metres high and made of granite, located southwest of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. The stone, erected before 1866, marked the border between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick. Originally this spot was a tripoint. During the division of Germany the border between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany ran past the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Today it marks the border between the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, the post lying just within the Lower Saxon side. During the Cold War it was accessible from the west. The historic stone stands at an elevation of about 870 metres, around 2.5 kilometres east of a car park on the B 4 federal road between Torfhaus and Oderbrück. The first recorded mention of a boundary stone being located here dates to the year 1727. On a map of the Upper Forest of Braunlage (Oberforst Braunlage) is the note "drey Eckjer Pfahl anno 1698". From a description of the Harzburg Forest (Harzburger Forsten) the original stone is described thus: Solcher Pfahl ist auch nach Communion Seite zur linken Hand mit Nr. 1 und einer Wolfsangel, nach Braunlagischer Seite mit drey Hieben und auf Elbingeroder Seite mit Nr. 1 und einem Kreuz ingleichen mit der Jahreszahl 1698 gesetzt und hat dabei seinen Namen erhalten. ...which translates roughly as... Such a post was also erected with a No. 1 and a wolfsangel inscribed on the left hand side facing Communion, three gashes on the Elbingerode side, and a No. 1 and a cross with the year 1698 inscribed on the Braunlage side; hence its name. The boundary markers were subsequently replaced on a regular basis. In 1736 a wooden post was erected and, in 1791, one made of stone. In 1844 a new post was made in oakwood. The present triangular stone was erected before 1866. It bears the No. 1 and, on its northeastern and southwestern sides the letters KH for Kingdom of Hanover, and on the southeastern side the letters HB for the Duchy of Brunswick (Herzogtum Braunschweig). The original triangular shape was retained. In 1894 a railway station was planned at the site of the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Engineer Louis Degen, who had drawn up plans for a Harz railway running on the territory of Brunswick from Walkenried via Wieda to Braunlage (later called the South Harz Railway), envisaged an extension of the line to the most northerly point of this piece of Brunswick terrain – the district of Blankenburg. Previously, in 1892, the construction of a road requested by several parishes in the West Harz, which would have branched off at the Dreieckiger Pfahl from the road from Torfhaus/Oderbrück to Schierke and run to the Brocken Road, had been refused by the Chamber of the Principality of Stolberg-Wernigerode. The station was to have been equipped with a run-around loop. However the railway was only built as far as Braunlage. A goods track ran to the north of Braunlage to the granite quarry on the Wurmberg mountain, but it never reached the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Until 1945 there was a small restaurant at the Dreieckiger Pfahl, which was mainly frequented by hikers to the Brocken. The building was burnt down by American troops in April 1945, because SS and Wehrmacht soldiers as well as Hitler Youth had been hiding in huts in this area. The pub was never rebuilt. Today, there is a rest area for hikers and mountain bikers in the vicinity of the Dreieckiger Pfahl as well as box no. 168 on the Harzer Wandernadel network of hiking checkpoints.

The Heinrichshöhe is a subsidiary peak of the highest mountain in the Harz, the Brocken, and, at 1,040 m above NN, it is the second summit in the Harz Mountains. Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purposes of research or controlling the wildlife population.

Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern slopes. 95% of the area is covered with forests, mainly with spruce and beech woods, including several bogs, granite rocks and creeks. The park is part of the Natura 2000 network of the European Union. In its current form, the park was created on January 1, 2006, by the merger of the Harz National Park in Lower Saxony, established in 1994, and the Upper Harz National Park in Saxony-Anhalt, established in 1990. As the former inner German border ran through the Harz, large parts of the range were prohibited areas, that apart from the fortifications had remained completely unaffected for decades. Today the park covers parts of the districts of Goslar, Göttingen and Harz. Rare animals of the Harz National Park include the white-throated dipper, the black stork, peregrine falcon, the European wildcat and especially the Eurasian lynx. The last lynx in the Harz Mountains had been shot in 1818, but in 1999 a project for reintroducing was established. Since 2002 several wild lynxes gave birth. An attempt to return the western capercaillie (Auerhuhn) however did not succeed.