Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System

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A Journey Through Time: The Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar, and Upper Harz Water Management System

The Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar, and Upper Harz Water Management System form a unique ensemble that offers a captivating glimpse into the rich mining history of Germany. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, this remarkable complex showcases the evolution of mining techniques, urban development, and water management systems over several centuries.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The Upper Harz mining water management system, which lies south of the Rammelsberg mines and the town of Goslar, has been developed over a period of some 800 years to assist in the process of extracting ore for the production of non-ferrous metals. Its construction was first undertaken in the Middle Ages by Cistercian monks, and it was then developed on a vast scale from the end of the 16th century until the 19th century. It is made up of an extremely complex but perfectly coherent system of artificial ponds, small channels, tunnels and underground drains. It enabled the development of water power for use in mining and metallurgical processes. It is a major site for mining innovation in the western world.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (i): The historic mining network of the Mines of Rammelsberg, the Historic Town of Goslar and the Upper Harz Water-Management System constitutes one of the largest mining and metallurgical complexes for non-ferrous metals in Europe. Known to have existed since ancient times, it has been in continuous use since the Middle Ages, initially under the impetus of Cistercian monks, and in later periods under the control of regional princes and of the Holy Roman Empire, of which Goslar was one of the capitals. The ensemble is an outstanding example of human creative genius in the fields of mining techniques and industrial water-management.

Criterion (ii): The historic mining network of the Mines Rammelsberg, the Historic Town of Goslar and the Upper Harz Water-Management System exhibits an important interchange of human values, in the field of mining and water management techniques, from the Middle Ages until the modern and contemporary periods in Europe. It was the inspiration for Agricola’s De re metallica, the authoritative work on metallurgy and mining in the Renaissance.

Criterion (iv): The historic mining network of the Mines of Rammelsberg, the Historic Town of Goslar and the Upper Harz Water-Management System constitutes an outstanding and very comprehensive technological ensemble in the fields of mining techniques, non-ferrous metallurgy and the management of water for drainage and power. Its extent and its period of continuous operation are exceptional. It also provides a characteristic example of administrative and commercial organization in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, through the remains of the monastery of Walkenried and the town planning of the Historic Town of Goslar.

Encyclopedia Record: Rammelsberg

The Rammelsberg is a mountain, 635 metres (2,083 ft) high, on the northern edge of the Harz range, south of the historic town of Goslar in the North German state of Lower Saxony. The mountain is the location of an important silver, copper, and lead mine. When it closed in 1988, it had been the only mine still working continuously for over 1,000 years. Because of its long history of mining and testimony to the advancement and exchange of technology over many centuries, the visitor mine of Rammelsberg was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

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