Walkenried

The village of Walkenried an der Wieda is situated at an altitude of 280 to 350 meters above sea level in the sunny Südharz.
Walkenried was first mentioned in writing at the end of the 11th century and is well known far beyond its borders for its former Cistercian monastery. The towering ruins of the monastery church are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The UNESCO World Heritage site of Walkenried also includes 107 historical ponds, 310 kilometers of trenches, and 31 kilometers of waterways, including the 16th-century Samson pit and three small shaft systems from the 19th century.

Walkenried is a good example of the interaction between knowledge and work.
The Cistercian monks of the Walkenried monastery concentrated the technical knowledge of their time and created administrative forms for the future. In the early 13th century, the monks transformed the marshland around Walkenried into a unique pond landscape, of which about fifty ponds have survived to this day. These initial pond and ditch systems were further developed over the centuries by miners.
The Oberharzer hydroelectric power station was the only energy supplier for mining in the Oberharz from the Middle Ages until the industrial age.
Because there were no rivers or streams in this high plateau, miners collected water in reservoirs through kilometers of ditch systems. From there, it was directed to the mines and huts, where it powered countless waterwheels above and below ground.
This allowed miners to harness energy to pump infiltrated water out of the pits using wooden pumps, to operate the huts and transport materials. This technical development of mining in the Oberharz occurred here in Europe for the first time.

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