Uelzen, Lower Saxony, Germany

Geography : Location | Divisions | History | Governance | Culture : Theatre : Museums | Economy | Transport : Rail | Courts | Education | Health and medicine

🇩🇪 Uelzen is a town in north-east Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality.

Uelzen is characterised by timber-framed architecture and also has some striking examples of North German brick Gothic. The county town earned pan-regional fame when Friedensreich Hundertwasser was selected to redesign the station: the final work of the celebrated Viennese artist and architect was ceremonially opened in 2000 as the Hundertwasser Station, Uelzen, and has since been a popular tourist magnet.

The Polabian name for Uelzen is Wilcaus (spelled Wiltzaus in older German reference material), possibly derived from wilca or wilsa (< Slavic *olăša) 'alder'.

Geography: Location Uelzen lies on the eastern edge of the Lüneburg Heath. The town is a transport hub on the north–south axis from Hamburg to Hanover as well as the east–west axis from Bremen to Berlin. Also of economic importance is its location on the Elbe Lateral Canal. The town is situated on the Ilmenau, and the banks in Uelzen are dotted with small parks wetland areas. Large areas in the vicinity of Uelzen have been set aside as nature parks with moors, woods, lakes, and heathland: the Elbhöhen-Wendland Nature Park, Lüneburg Heath Nature Park and Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Water Meadows Biosphere Reserve.

Divisions The following parishes belong to the borough of Uelzen: Groß Liedern, Halligdorf, Hambrock, Hansen, Hanstedt II, Holdenstedt, Kirchweyhe, Klein Süstedt, Masendorf, Mehre, Molzen, Oldenstadt, Riestedt, Ripdorf, Tatern, Veerßen, Westerweyhe, and Woltersburg.

Furthermore, there are four other places that have the status of "special parishes" (Sonstige Ortsteile): Borne, Kl. Liedern, Pieperhöfen, and Oldenstadt-West.

History The town was founded in 1250. In 1270 Duke John of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a Welf who ruled the Principality of Lüneburg from 1252 to 1277, granted Uelzen its town privileges (Stadtrechte). In the Middle Ages it became an active member of the Hanseatic League. The town fortification, built in the 14th century, originally had three gates, a wall, and a moat. Parts of the wall are still standing.

While Uelzen only played a small role in the Hanseatic League, there is evidence that it traded with Livonia and Spain. At the Schnellenmarket, a London trading office purchased Uelzener linen, earthenware pitchers were offered for sale and brewery business flourished. On 21 October 1470, Uelzen was the venue for a Hanseatic League Convention. This was a special honor, as these annual resolutions of the association of cities usually took place in Lübeck.

The town became part of the Electorate of Hanover in 1708, the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, and the Prussian Province of Hanover in 1866.

Uelzen was the site of a Nazi concentration camp that operated in Uelzen until 17 April 1945. The camp was a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Uelzen was hit by five air raids during World War II, on 18 April 1944, 10 November 1944, 27 November 1944, 22 February 1945 and 7 April 1945. Across these raids, 1362 buildings were destroyed or damaged. The heaviest raid was on 22 February 1945 when 149 people lost their lives and 95 houses were completely destroyed. On 7 April 1944, three civilians were killed and 153 houses were destroyed or damaged. Estimates indicate up to 27% of the town was destroyed at some point during the war.

Governance Uelzen belongs to the Bundestag constituency of Celle-Uelzen. In 2009 Henning Otte (CDU) was directly elected, having been on the state list (place 19) since 2005. Kirsten Lühmann (SPD) was elected in 2009 via the state list. In the years 1998, 2002 and 2005 Peter Struck (SPD), former defense minister and chairman of the SPD party in the German Bundestag, was directly elected.

Culture: Theatre Uelzen contains a number of theaters,including the theatre on the Ilmenau, the Jabelmann Events Hall, and the fringe theatre on the Rosenmauer.

Culture: Museums Worthy of mention is the Holdenstedt Castle Museum which is the town's local history museum. Permanent exhibitions include furniture from the Middle Ages, a glass collection, artwork by painter Georg Wolf, and archaeological finds from the local area.

Economy The largest sugarbeet refinery in the Nordzucker group is in Uelzen. It processes approximately 20,000 tons of sugarbeet per day. Further big employers in the town are Nestlé Schöller or the dairy Uelzena. Bituminous roofing felts and insulation material is being manufactured by C. Hasse & Sohn, a leading producer with experience since 1872.

Transport: Rail The Hundertwasserbahnhof is a railway station in Uelzen at the eastern edge of the Lüneburg Heath Nature Park in north-eastern Lower Saxony. Cities directly reachable by rail from this hub are Hamburg, Hannover, Lüneburg, Celle, Braunschweig, Bremen and Berlin.

The original station was renovated for Expo 2000 following plans by the Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. An "environmentally, culturally oriented" station, the station was renamed after the architect as 'Hundertwasser Station, Uelzen'. Today it is one of the town's popular tourist attractions.

Courts Uelzen has a district court (Amtsgericht), which belongs to the state court region of Lüneburg and the Oberlandesgericht (High State Court) region of Celle.

Education Schools in Uelzen include the Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium, Lessing-Gymnasium, Oberschule-Uelzen, Lucas-Backmeister-Schule, Sternschule, Berufsbildene Schulen I and II and 6 elementary schools.

Health and medicine Uelzen has one hospital (HELIOS Klinikum), two clinics that specialise in different areas (Klinik Veerßen and Psychiatrische Klinik Uelzen) and some pharmacies and dentists.

Europe/Berlin/Lower_Saxony 
<b>Europe/Berlin/Lower_Saxony</b>
Image: Adobe Stock markobe #270404094

Uelzen has a population of over 34,400 people. Uelzen also forms the centre of the wider Uelzen District which has a population of over 92,566 people. It is also a part of the larger Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Uelzen is situated 93 km south-east of the centre of Hamburg.

To set up a UBI Lab for Uelzen see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Uelzen has links with:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barnstaple, England 🇫🇷 Bois-Guillaume, France 🇧🇾 Kobryn, Belarus 🇧🇫 Tikaré, Burkina Faso
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Uelzen is: -169.442,-52.963

Locations Near: Uelzen 10.5582,52.963

🇩🇪 Lüneburg 10.414,53.248 d: 33.1  

🇩🇪 Geesthacht 10.37,53.443 d: 54.8  

🇩🇪 Wolfsburg 10.787,52.421 d: 62.2  

🇩🇪 Salzwedel 11.152,52.85 d: 41.7  

🇩🇪 Celle 10.063,52.614 d: 51.2  

🇩🇪 Braunschweig 10.527,52.265 d: 77.6  

🇩🇪 Peine 10.233,52.317 d: 75.1  

🇩🇪 Ratzeburg 10.761,53.7 d: 83  

🇩🇪 Buchholz in der Nordheide 9.867,53.317 d: 60.6  

🇩🇪 Wilhelmsburg 9.992,53.519 d: 72.4  

Antipodal to: Uelzen -169.442,-52.963

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16441.8  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 15712.2  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 15659.2  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15714.1  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 11814.8  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 11726.3  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 11712.5  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 11708.1  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 11707.7  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 11681.8  

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