In Güntersberge, technical, educational and historical, and landscape-related themes sit side by side: the “Alte Schule” experience house features an H0 model railway, the nature trail combines puzzles and games with themes from nature and landscape management, and museums display other collections. St. Martini and two ponds with different names and histories round out the picture. When planning your trip, you can decide which focus interests you most—a model railway, historical everyday life, nature themes or traces of local history.
Nature Trail with Puzzles and Landscape Themes
The Güntersberge Nature Trail starts at the Selke bridge and is about 3.5 kilometres long. There are puzzles and games at its stations. The trail also explains the connections between the area and its flora and fauna; forestry, landscape management and nature conservation are among the topics too. Playful activities sit alongside questions about nature and how the landscape is used and cared for.
The trail also provides information about the geological formation “Teichdamm Outcrop” at Bergsee (Mühlteich) and the archaeological monument “Güntersburg”. Its themes therefore range from flora and fauna to geological features and an archaeological monument. If you like to take in different subjects as you walk, you can think of the nature trail in terms of the topics at its stations rather than just its approximate length.
Model Railway, School Museum and Curiosities
The “Alte Schule” experience house features an H0 model railway covering more than 40 square metres, with routes from the region. Visitors can operate parts of the layout themselves. Since 2003, the experience house has served as a museum and club premises for Förderkreis Güntersberge e.V. The sections that visitors can control add a hands-on activity to viewing the model railway.
The school museum offers a different focus: visitors can write with a slate and slate pencil, while photo albums and old schoolwork illustrate everyday life at school and in after-school care. Technology and life in the past thus sit side by side as distinct themes. The Mouse Trap and Curiosities Museum also has its own clearly defined collection: it displays mouse traps of all kinds, old and rare kitchen utensils, and other curiosities.
The Mouse Trap and Curiosities Museum also includes the “Gallery of Quiet Places”, a picture gallery on this theme that is considered unique in Germany. It adds a distinct focus in visual form to the collection. Between the model railway, writing exercises and curious collection pieces, you can explore different interests in technology, education and everyday culture.
Church and Ponds: History of Construction and Use
The present-day St. Martini Church in Güntersberge contains the Baroque north portal and the gravestone of the last Catholic priest before the Reformation. Both survived the 1856 town fire from the previous church building. The history of today’s church therefore includes the surviving features, the impact of the fire and its connection to the earlier building.
The names of the bodies of water are useful landmarks too. Bergsee, also known as Mühlenteich, was created as a mining pond in 1752 and was also used to power a watermill until the end of the 1970s. Katzsohlteich, by contrast, is an impoundment pond on the edge of Güntersberge, a little above Mühlteich, which is also called Bergsee. Bergsee and Mühlenteich therefore refer to the same body of water; Katzsohlteich is a different pond. The history of Bergsee includes mining and its former use by a mill, while Katzsohlteich is described by its form as an impoundment pond and its relative location.
When looking for a holiday apartment in Güntersberge, you can first decide what you want to focus on during your trip: nature and landscape themes, technical and school-history collections, or the history of buildings and bodies of water.
Discover more destinations: Harzgerode, Thale, Ballenstedt, Nordharz, Tanne, Harsleben, Osterwieck, Huy
For the broader travel overview: Harz.
