Alfeld

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For the town in the district of Nürnberger Land, see Alfeld, Bavaria.

Alfeld
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Hildesheim
Mayor	Bernd Beushausen (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	72.86 km² (28.1 sq mi)
Elevation	145 m (476 ft)
Population	20,887 (18/09/2005)
- Density	287 /km² (742 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	HI
Postal code	31061
Area code	05181
Website	www.alfeld.de Coordinates: 51°59′19″N 9°49′37″E / 51.98861, 9.82694

Alfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the Leine river in the district of Hildesheim.

1 History and main sights
2 Culture
3 Economy
4 Popular Culture
5 External links

History and main sights

Alfeld townhall, behind St. Nicolai

Marktstraße

Latin school, today museum

The town was founded in 1214. Sights in Alfeld include the town hall (1586) with its octagonal tower, the church Saint Nicolai and the Fillerturm, a medieval watchtower. More famous are the Seven Mountains (German: Sieben Berge) in the north and the Lippoldshöhle ("Lippold's cave"), where a legendary robber-knight is said to have lived.

Culture

The assertion that the popular fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was born in Alfeld is false. Even though the miners who mined ore In the Seven Mountains believed in the existence of dwarfs, it is more likely that the cradle of the fairy tale is to be searched in France. The version the brothers Grimm heard and wrote down, as they travelled through the Seven Mountains, on the so called Märchenstrasse (Street Of Fairytales) is just one of many.

Economy

The biggest employer of the city is the SAPPI (South African Pulp and Paper Industry) factory with its big chimney, which has become one of Alfeld's landmarks. Even more famous than SAPPI is the Fagus Werk, rebuilt in 1910-1915 after the blueprints of architect Walter-Gropius, what is said to be trend-setting for modern architecture.