Medieval cities, miraculously preserved: UNESCO World Heritage sites Goslar and Quedlinburg in the Harz Mountains

Goslar

Quedlinburg

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The small 1,000 year old city of Goslar is a UNESCO World Heritage site as is the vast Rammelsberg silver mine, the source of the city’s great wealth. Silver was discovered here in 968 and although it’s no longer an active mine going down into its bowels is an fascinating tourist experience.

The medieval city seems miraculously preserved since the days when it was the treasure chest of the Holy Roman Empire (1039 to 1339).

The highest mountain in the Harz region is the Brocken, famous in Germany for where Goethe’s Faust was taken by the devil after selling his soul. It’s an eerie place, shrouded by mist for most of the year. There are several steam trains pulling vintage carriages and its possible to stand on the open air platforms that connect carriages for the full coal smoke experience. Rising to 3,690 feet the train gradually passes through deeper snow, with fairy tale smothered fir trees, until the top.

Quedlinburg is a rare 1,000 year old city that never had a major fire so it has an exceptional architectural heritage of Romanesque and half-timbered buildings, many of remarkably high quality. Buildings of all styles and epochs make Quedlinburg an ideal place to study the development of half-timbered building techniques and styles through the ages. With more than 2,000 half-timbered houses from six centuries and its medieval urban profile the whole city was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status as an "extraordinary example of a medieval European city".

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Photo courtesy trending.com, greatrail.com, and Daily Mail