Wernigerode

Wernigerode's old town holds around a thousand timber-framed buildings, including a town hall of the fifteenth century with two slate-clad towers and a facade of carved figures, and the Schiefes Haus, a mill house that leans visibly because water washed out its foundations. The castle above was remodelled in the 1860s in a historicist style with towers and turrets, a reworking of an older fortress. The town is the main terminus of the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, a network of narrow-gauge steam lines totalling about a hundred and forty kilometres, whose Brocken line climbs to the summit of the Harz's highest mountain.

History

The first settlement was the Klint, with a lowland castle called the Schnakenburg, whose ruins were demolished in 1805, and the suffix rode, "clearing", recalls the forest that had to be cleared; the town is first recorded in 1121 with Count Adalbert, who moved from near Hildesheim and took the title Count of Wernigerode. On 17 April 1229 it received town rights on the model of Goslar, it was the capital of the County of Wernigerode and later Stolberg-Wernigerode, in 1815 it became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony, and the Hasseröder brewery was founded here in 1872 (Wikipedia, Wernigerode).

What to look for

• The 1400s town hall - twin slate towers over a carved facade.
• The leaning mill house - a building tilted by water undermining its base.
• The historicist castle - a hilltop fortress remodelled in the 1860s.
• The steam railway - the terminus of the network that climbs the Brocken.

When to go

April to October; the Brocken railway runs year-round and is busiest in summer. Booking is advisable for the summit train. The town is crowded at midday.

What to expect

The castle is largely nineteenth-century remodelling. Brocken trains fill and the summit is often in cloud. The old town is heavily visited.

Nearby

The Brocken lies south-west; Quedlinburg is east.

Key facts