The Brocken
The summit of the Brocken, showing the transmitters
Elevation	1,141.1 metres
Location	Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Range	Harz
Prominence	856 m
Coordinates	51°48′02″N, 10°37′02″E

The Brocken, or Blocksberg, is the highest peak (1,141 metres) in the Harz Mountains in Germany (located between the rivers Weser and Elbe) and also the highest peak of northern Germany. Although its altitude is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of 2000 m altitude. The peak tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A topographical summit is a point on a surface which is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... With an area of 20,447 km² and a population of 2. ... The Himalaya as seen from the International Space Station A mountain range is a group of mountains bordered by lowlands or separated from other mountain ranges by passes or rivers. ... The Harz is a mountain range in northern Germany. ... In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height or shoulder drop (in America) or prime factor (in Europe), is a concept used in the categorization of hills and mountains, also known as peaks. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... The Harz is a mountain range in northern Germany. ... Weser watershed Orthographic projection centred over Bremen The Weser is a river of north-western Germany. ... This article is about a river in Central Europe. ... Northern Germany is the the geographic area of the five German states Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein in the German Lowlands known as the Northern German Plain with Low German as the historic language (see: Benrath line). ... Golden Gate Bridge in Fog Evening fog obscures Londons Tower Bridge from passers by. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ...

The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils; Goethe took up the legends in his Faust, in which he also referred to the mountain. The Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Witchcraft. ... Satan frozen at the center of Cocytus, the ninth circle of Hell in Dantes Inferno. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Faust depicted in an etching by Rembrandt van Rijn (circa 1650) Faust or Faustus (the Latin for auspicious or lucky) is the protagonist of a popular German legend in which a mediæval scholar makes a pact with the Devil. ... Brocken Spectre of a Caravelle aircraft, photographed from an altitude of 35000 feet over France. ...

Today the Brocken is part of a national park and hosts a historic botanical garden of mountain plants, founded in 1890. A narrow gauge steam railway, the Brockenbahn (part of the Harzer Schmalspurbahn), takes visitors from Wernigerode in the north and Nordhausen in the south to the railway station at the top. The mountain features numerous hiking trails. Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, UK A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. ... Inside the United States Botanic Garden Inside the Rio de Janeiro Botanic Garden (Brazil), 1890 Botanical gardens (in Latin, hortus botanicus) grow a wide variety of plants primarily categorized and documented for scientific purposes, but also for the enjoyment and education of visitors, a consideration that has become essential to... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Comparison of standard gauge (blue) and one common narrow gauge (red) width. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... Narrow gauge group of railway lines running in the Harz Mountains of Germany. ... Wernigerode Castle Wernigerode is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ... Roland statue in Nordhausen Twinning The city is twinned with Bet Shemesh in Israel Charleville-Mézières in France Bochum Ostrów Wielkopolski in Poland Nordhausen is a city of about 45,000 people at the southern border of the Harz mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. ...

FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of the Brocken. The old TV tower, the Sender Brocken, is now used as hotel and restaurant. It also has an observation deck, open to all tourists. The Sender Brocken (Brocken transmitter) is a facility for FM- and TV-transmitters on Brocken Mountain in Germany. ...

20th Century history

The Brockenbahn steam engine provides regular service to the summit.

On this mountain the world's first television tower was built in 1935; it began by broadcasting the Deutsche Reichspost. It carried the first television broadcast of the Olympic Games – from the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. The tower continued functioning until September, 1939, when the authorities suspended broadcasting on the outbreak of World War II. The Brocken Bahn is a steam engine which provides regular service to the summit. ... The Brocken Bahn is a steam engine which provides regular service to the summit. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Allied forces bombed the Brocken on April 17, 1945, destroying the Brocken Hotel and the weather station, but not the television tower. American forces used the installation from 1945 to 1947. Before the Americans left the Brocken in 1947, they disabled the rebuilt weather station and the television tower. Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... A technician examines a weather stations anemometer. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...

Between 1973 to 1976 a new modern television tower was built for the second GDR-TV. Today the second German TV station (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)) uses this tower. Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German Television), ZDF, is a public service German television channel based in Mainz. ...

From 1957 the Brocken constituted a security zone, and after construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961, East German authorities designated it as a military high-grade security zone and turned it into a fortress. Due to its high altitude the station also served to spy on communication signals from the surrounding area. Border troops took up quarters at the Brocken railway station, and the Soviet Red Army used a large portion of territory. The Stasi (East German secret police) used the television tower until 1985, when they moved to a new building – now a museum. To seal the area, the entire Brocken plateau was then surrounded by a concrete wall, built from 2,318 sections, each one 2.4 tons in weight and 3.60 metres high. The wall has since been dismantled, as have the Russian barracks and the domes of their listening posts. Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall, November 20, 1961. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Soviet redirects here. ... For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ... Logo of East Germanys Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS or Stasi) / Ministry for State Security This article is about Stasi, the secret police of East Germany. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ...

Since the restricted access to the area and the unique climate provided outstanding conditons, the Brocken area is still covered with in Germany extremely rare primary forrest. It provides perfect conditions for endangered and in Germany nearly extinct species like Eurasian Lynx, Wildcat and Capercaillie. Therefore, it was protected as Harz National Park from 1990 on. Binomial name Lynx lynx (Linnaeus, 1758) The Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) is a medium-sized cat of European and Siberian forests, where it is one of the major predators. ... Binomial name Felis silvestris Schreber, 1775 subspecies See text The Wildcat (Felis silvestris), sometimes Wild Cat or Wild-cat, is a small predator native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. ... This article is about the bird. ... The Harz National Park is a nature reserve in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ...

Literary mentions

Goethe described the Brocken in his Faust (written in 1808) as the center of revelry for witches on Walpurgis Night (April 30; the eve of St Walpurga's Day on May 1).  , IPA: , (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath. ... Faust depicted in an etching by Rembrandt van Rijn (circa 1650) Faust or Faustus (the Latin for auspicious or lucky) is the protagonist of a popular German legend in which a mediæval scholar makes a pact with the Devil. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Witchcraft. ... Walpurgis Night in Sweden. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Saint Walpurga (variants include Walpurgis, Valborg, Walburge, Wealdburg, Valderburger, Vappu), born in Wessex, ca. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Now to the Brocken the witches ride;

The stubble is gold and the corn is green;

There is the carnival crew to be seen,

And Squire Urianus will come to preside.

So over the valleys our company floats,

With witches a-farting on stinking old goats.

Goethe may have gained inspiration from two rock formations on the mountain's summit, the Teufelskanzel (Devil's Pulpit) and the Hexenaltar (Witches' Altar).

Another famous visitor on the Brocken, author Heinrich Heine, wrote the book Harzreise ("A Harz Journey" – published in 1826). He says: "The mountain somehow appears so Germanically stoical, so understanding, so tolerant, just because it affords a view so high and wide and clear. And should such mountain open its giant eyes, it may well see more than we, who like dwarfs just trample on it, staring from stupid eyes." Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (born Chaim Harry Heine, December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was a journalist, an essayist, and one of the most significant German romantic poets. ...

Slothrop and Geli Tripping experience the famous Brocken Spectre in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, as the Harz mountains are north of Nordhausen, the home of the V2 rocket production. In David Foster Wallace's Pynchon-influenced Infinite Jest the characters Remy Marathe and Hugh Steeply also experience the Brocken spectre on a ridge in the desert outside Tucson. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... Gravitys Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973. ... Roland statue in Nordhausen Twinning The city is twinned with Bet Shemesh in Israel Charleville-Mézières in France Bochum Ostrów Wielkopolski in Poland Nordhausen is a city of about 45,000 people at the southern border of the Harz mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. ... David Foster Wallace is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. ... Infinite Jest (1996) is a critically acclaimed novel written by David Foster Wallace. ...

The Brocken in popular culture

• The heavy metal band Fates Warning titled their debut album Night on Brocken. The title track relects the Witches Sabbath on Walpurgis Night. The title of the band's second album -- The Spectre Within -- probably takes its inspiration from the Brocken Spectre, but the content does not allude to it directly.

• The song "Born in a Burial Gown" by Cradle of Filth (from the album Bitter Suites to Succubi) contains an allusion to the Brocken's history as a witches' gathering-place.

• The band Black Sabbath wrote a song called "Walpurgis", which talked about witches gathering to perform paganistic rituals. Later, the lyrics were changed, and the title became "War Pigs". The lyrics talk about the generals of war, and their evils. An example of the original song can be found on the Ozzy Osbourne album The Ozzman Cometh.

• The indie rock band Liars' album They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is a concept album loosely based on the tales of the gatherings of witches on The Brocken as well as witch trials.

• The novel Cloud Castles by Michael Scott Rohan features the Brocken as the home and body of Chernobog

Heavy metal (sometimes referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ... Fates Warning is a progressive metal band, formed in 1983 by John Arch, Jim Matheos, Victor Arduini, Joe DiBiase, and Steve Zimmerman in Connecticut, USA. The band directly contributed to the establishment of the progressive metal genre. ... Francisco Goyas Los Caprichos: Linda maestra! (Nice mistress!) - witches heading to a Sabbath In Christian folklore, the Sabbath (also known as Witchs Sabbath) was a gathering supposed to have been celebrated by Satanists, witches and warlocks to honor the Devil, offend God, Jesus, the sacraments, the cross, and... Cradle of Filth is a heavy metal band formed in Suffolk, England in 1991. ... Cradle of Filths Bitter Suites to Succubi is essentially an EP - or transitional mini album as Dani Filth would have it - bridging the gap between Midian and Damnation and a Day while the band negotiated their label change from Music For Nations to Sony. ... For other uses, see Black Sabbath (disambiguation). ... War Pigs is an anti-war song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their 1970 album, Paranoid. ... Ozzy Osbourne (born John Michael Osbourne, December 3, 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is the lead vocalist of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, a popular solo artist, and the star of the reality show, The Osbournes. ... The Ozzman Cometh is an album by Ozzy Osbourne released in 1997. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Liars is currently a three-piece band consisting of Australian-born Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (percussion, guitar, synth), and Julian Gross (drums). ... They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (May 2004) is the second album released by indie rock band Liars. ... Devil, one of the main protagonists of the witch trials. ... Michael Scott Rohan (born 1951 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author. ... Chernobog (also spelled Crnobog, Czernobog, ÄŒernobog or Zernebog, each name meaning Black God) is a mysterious Slavic deity of whom much has been speculated but little can be said. ...

External links

• Brocken National Park

See also

• Brocken spectre
• Lysa Hora ("Bald Mountain")