For the town in the district of Nürnberger LandNürnberger Land is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Forchheim, Bayreuth, Amberg-Sulzbach, Neumarkt, Roth and Erlangen-Höchstadt, and by the city of Nuremberg.- History :...
, see Alfeld, BavariaAlfeld is a municipality in the district of Nürnberger Land in Bavaria in Germany. Alfeld has around 1000 habitants and is famous for his traditional kermis which the people celebrate every end of august....
.
Alfeld is a town in
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is located on the
LeineThe Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
river in the district of
HildesheimHildesheim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Hanover, Peine, Wolfenbüttel, Goslar, Northeim, Holzminden and Hamelin-Pyrmont.- History :...
and on the
German Framework RoadThe German Framework Road is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Along the road you can find nearly 100 cities and towns with remarkable timber-framed houses. It is divided into seven sections, leading through the following states of...
.
History and main sights
The town was founded in 1214. 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 FactoryThe Fagus Factory is a shoe last factory in Alfeld on the Leine in Germany, an important example of early modern architecture. Commissioned by owner Carl Benscheidt, the factory was designed by the architect Eduard Werner, with facades designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer...
of 1911, a fine example of early modernist architecture by
Walter GropiusWalter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
. More famous are the Seven Mountains (German:
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 and the Seven DwarfsSnow White is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm. The German version features elements such as the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in Disney's 1937 film 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 GrimmThe Brothers Grimm , Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in words shift over time .They are among the best known story...
heard and wrote down, as they travelled through the Seven Mountains, on the so called
Märchenstrasse (Street Of Fairytales) is just one of many.
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 WerkThe Fagus Factory is a shoe last factory in Alfeld on the Leine in Germany, an important example of early modern architecture. Commissioned by owner Carl Benscheidt, the factory was designed by the architect Eduard Werner, with facades designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer...
, 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 for repeatedly by both
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
and Soviet forces in
Tom Clancy'sThomas Leo Clancy Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War and his video games. His name is also a brand for similar movie scripts written by ghost writers and many series of...
novel
Red Storm RisingRed Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s...
.
External links