Liebenburg is a municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Liebenburg
Coat of arms of Liebenburg
Location of Liebenburg within Goslar district
Clausthal-ZellerfeldBraunlageClausthal-ZellerfeldClausthal-ZellerfeldSeesenLiebenburgLangelsheimGoslarGoslarBraunlageBraunlageBad HarzburgLangelsheimClausthal-ZellerfeldGoslar (district)Lower SaxonyWolfenbüttel (district)SalzgitterWolfenbüttel (district)Hildesheim (district)Northeim (district)Göttingen (district)ThuringiaSaxony-Anhaltgemeindefreies Gebiet Harz
Liebenburg is located in Germany
Liebenburg
Liebenburg
Liebenburg is located in Lower Saxony
Liebenburg
Liebenburg
Coordinates: 52°01′27″N 10°26′02″E / 52.02417°N 10.43389°E / 52.02417; 10.43389
CountryGermany
StateLower Saxony
DistrictGoslar
Subdivisions10 districts
Government
 • Mayor (2021–26) Alf Hesse[1] (SPD)
Area
 • Total78.73 km2 (30.40 sq mi)
Elevation
128 m (420 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[2]
 • Total7,658
 • Density97/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
38704
Dialling codes05346
Vehicle registrationGS
Websitewww.liebenburg.eu

Geography

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The municipal area is situated north of the Harz mountain range, within the eastern Salzgitter Hills of the Innerste Uplands. It borders on the district capital Goslar, approx. 12 km (7.5 mi) in the south; the adjacent municipalities in the north are Salzgitter-Bad and Schladen in Wolfenbüttel District.

Subdivisions

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The municipality comprises Liebenburg proper (with 2,140 inhabitants[3]) and the following nine villages, which were incorporated on 1 July 1972 with the following population as of 30 June 2018:[4]

  • Dörnten (1,189 inhabitants) with Kunigunde
  • Groß Döhren (872)
  • Heißum (301)
  • Klein Döhren (420)
  • Klein Mahner (333)
  • Neuenkirchen (206)
  • Ostharingen (246)
  • Othfresen (1,902) with Heimerode and Posthof
  • Upen (317)

History

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Liebenburg Castle Church

Archaeological excavations of a gallery grave indicate a settlement of the area in the Late Neolithic. The former Saxon estates in 1235 belonged to the territory of the newly established Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim.

From 1292 to 1302, Prince-bishop Siegfried II of Querfurt had the Levenborch spur castle erected in the Salzgitter Hills, near where his episcopal lands bordered on the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. From 1366 it was pawned by his successors to the citizens of Braunschweig, important to secure the trade route to the Imperial City of Goslar.

The castle was seized by the warlike duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel after the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud in 1523 and temporarily served as hidden residence of his mistress Eva von Trott. The Catholic duke in turn lost it to the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, whose troops campaigned the Brunswick lands from 1542 until their final defeat in the 1547 Battle of Mühlberg. During the Thirty Years' War, the stronghold was used as headquarters by the Imperial Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1625, it was occupied by Swedish troops in 1633, and reconquered by the Imperial Army in 1641.

By a 1643 peace treaty with the Braunschweig dukes, the heavily damaged castle was restored to Hildesheim, while day laborers and craftsmen lived within its walls. The Hildesheim prince-bishops promoted the settlement of Catholic families. The castle itself was partly rebuilt in a Baroque style by the order of the Wittelsbach prince-bishop Clemens August until construction work was abandoned due to the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756. After the bishopric was finally secularised in 1802, Liebenburg fell to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814.

Demographics

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Population statistics
Year Inhabitants
1821 4464
1848 5710
1871 5737
1885 5727
1905 6535
1925 6375
Year Inhabitants
1933 6167
1939 8206
1946 13.208
1950 13.700
1956 12.279
1961 11.687
Year Inhabitants
1968 11.143
1970 10.982
1975 10.405
1980 9851
1985 9502
1990 9655
Year Inhabitants
1995 9803
2000 9693
2005 9431
2010 8777
2011 8620

(from 1968 on numbers of inhabitants as of 31 December)[5]

Politics

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Town hall

Seats in the municipal assembly (Gemeinderat) as of 2011 local elections:

Elections in September 2016:

  • SPD: 10 seats
  • CDU: 7 seats
  • AfD: 2 seats
  • Alliance 90/The Greens: 1 seat
  • FDP: 1 seat
  • The LEFT: 1 seat

Mayors

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  • Since October 2013: Alf Hesse (SPD)
  • 1996-2013: Hubert Spaniol (SPD)

References

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  1. ^ "Direktwahlen in Niedersachsen vom 12. September 2021" (PDF). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen. 13 October 2021.
  2. ^ "LSN-Online Regionaldatenbank, Tabelle A100001G: Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes, Stand 31. Dezember 2022" (in German). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen.
  3. ^ Population statistics, municipality of Liebenburg - 01.05.2014
  4. ^ "Einwohner der Gemeinden und Ortsteile" (PDF). Landkreis - Goslar.
  5. ^ Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Statistik. "Bevölkerungsfortschreibung" (in German).
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