kings' hut from above

On 11 April, the general meeting of our support group took place, as always, at our member establishment, the hotel/restaurant Riemann in Bad Lauterberg. The general meeting began punctually at 3 pm … with a lecture by our chairman, Mr Christian Mühl. He spoke about the architectural history of the Koenigshuette (kings’ hut). He reported that there had already been a predecessor on the site of the Koenigshuette(kings’ hut), the Süssenhütte – named after its owner, Joachim Süsse.  The Süssenhütte had come into fiscal (state) ownership in 1617 and had been closed down in 1623/24.

In 1731, the Mining Office in Clausthal (Clausthal was still an independent town at the time), had decided to build a new ironworks.

There were four construction phases: naturally, the first phase spanned the period after 1733 and lasted approximately 10 years. During this first construction phase, among other things, the blast furnace building with two blast furnaces was built,  the lower hammer mill, several coal sheds, the factor’s house, two smelter (residential) houses and other buildings such as a slag crushing plant were built. Today, of the buildings on the ironworks site, only the factor’s house and one of the residential houses remain. Of the first blast furnace works, only the  functional model as a replica can be found in the museum.

The first site plan of the smelting complex was drawn up in 1740.

The second phase of construction then began in 1815. This period saw the construction of the  machine factory and the iron store. In 1822, the moulding house was built, in 1830, the blast furnace works and the foundry hall were rebuilt, and the Scholmwehr dam was also renewed, like the first one, it was again constructed using timber. This was followed in 1834 and 1840 by two rolling mill buildings.

After the Battle of Langensalza, when the Kingdom of Hanover had lost the war, the area became Prussian. As a state-owned ironworks, the Koenigshuette (kings’ hut) was no longer required and was sold.

the Koenigshuette (kings’ hut) was taken over by a general partnership comprising Carl Anton Peters, Ludwig Holle and Wilhelm Hertzer and the third phase of construction took place.

In 1872, major changes took place on the Koenigshuette (kings’ hut) site – the two hammer mills were demolished. One had stood on the site of today’s mill, and the second opposite, on the site of today’s gardens. The mill mentioned above was built. A pattern house was build between the mould shop and the foundry; this is where the models for casting were stored. The foundry hall was also renovated.

The next phase of construction began around 1950: the foundry was expanded, and since then the Gothic structure has only been visible from the inside. The site was extended to include the rolling mill buildings, giving it a new appearance from the outside.

In the course of privatisation, the former tasting house was given a new function, but subsequently fell into disrepair before the support group, founded in 1983, took over the site and the badly dilapidated building on a long-term lease and had it converted into a museum.

So much for the lecture, which was repeatedly enriched with personal anecdotes by Mr Mühl, who lived in one of the residential buildings during his childhood.

After a short break, the general meeting began. Among other things, the report included the number of visitors who participated to the guided tours last year: 786 visitors attended 38 public and 26 special tours.

In addition, three members of the support group were honoured for their long-standing membership: for 40, 35 and 30 years of membership. Unfortunately, only one of those being honoured had made his way to the general meeting. The member, Mr. Schnibbe, accepted his certificate and a floral greeting with great pleasure. 

Our members will be informed of the detailed (non-public) results of the general meeting via  the protocol.

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On behalf of the Executive Board and the Advisory Board, I wish all visitors to our website a happy Easter and good health.

Easter bonfires are lit everywhere on Easter Saturday or Easter Sunday. Such fires have been lit in spring for three millennia, originally to mark the spring equinox in March. Jumping over the fire is meant to symbolically shake off all the illnesses and misfortunes of the past year and leave them behind in the fire. The ancient Persians celebrated such fires at their New Year festival, which was held at the spring equinox in March. The Celts, Germanic tribes and Romans were also familiar with this custom.

Tomorrow, no doubt, many children will once again be searching for Easter eggs and Easter bunnies – no doubt made of chocolate. Many families have been hanging Easter eggs in trees and bushes for several weeks now. Here in Göttingen, we have a so-called ‘roundabout tree’; it no longer stands in the roundabout on the way to the motorway slip road (B27), but next to it. At Christmas it is decorated with baubles, at Easter with eggs. But you can also find such an Easter tree in the Harz region at this time of year: at the Rehberger Graben. The egg is a symbol of fertility, new beginnings and rebirth. In Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, decorated eggs were found in graves, a reference to beliefs about death and rebirth.

We are also looking forward to spring, the awakening of nature and sunnier days.

I wish you all a happy Easter once again, in good health and surrounded by the people you love, be they family or friends.

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                                           Easter-decorated fir tree at the ‘Rehberger Graben’ (Rehberg dig)

The fifth day of the still young year 2026 is almost over, the first of you must surely already be back at work, the children are going back to school. The members of the Executive Board wish you all a good start to this year and that you can now start 2026 well rested.

Winter currently has the whole of Germany firmly in its grip, so we hope that you have survived the onset of winter well and without damage so far and wish you that it stays that way.

Radio and television reported full cross-country ski trails, pistes and toboggan runs in the winter sports resorts, including the Harz, for the first weekend of this year. Even in the other areas, which usually don't get as much snow, snowmen could once again be built, and many children were eager to do so.

We hope that you continue to get through this snowy time safe and sound.

A children's song goes: Neighbour's children have built a snowman ...

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iron grave cross for Dr. Ritscher

The Executive Board and Advisory Board of the support group Kings’ Hut ( Koenigshuette) wish all readers of our website

                                                          a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2026

Because of the approaching end of this year,we would like to take the opportunity to look back on important events relating to the support group. This year's general meeting took place on 5 April, as usual at our member's hotel/restaurant Riemann in Bad Lauterberg. 25 members found their way to Bad Lauterberg.

As every year, the members' meeting began with a public lecture. This year, Mr Hillegeist reported - as a farewell gift, so to speak - on historical Harz ironworks. These were the Kings’ Hut (Koenigshuette), the Rothehütte (today located in the village Koenigshuette, which is part of the town “Oberharz am Brocken”), the Lerbach-hut (Lerbach: district of Osterode/Harz), the Sollingen hut (in the town of Uslar) and the Harz-ironworks in the villages Ruebeland and Zorge. Everyone present was very impressed by the presentation. Enthusiastic applause was the thank you for the successful presentation.

An important point of the general meeting was the elections, which are held every two years. This year it was that time again.

Mr Hillegeist had already announced in advance that he would no longer be standing for election. There were also changes to the position of secretary and a new composition of the advisory board.

During the election, it was suggested that Mr Hillegeist be offered the position of Honorary Chairman. This suggestion was very well received by those present, but also by Mr Hillegeist, and Mr Hillegeist accepted the election as Honorary Chairman.

Mr Hillegeist had already pointed out in 2023 that the cast-iron grave cross of Dr Benjamin Ritscher, which stands in the Bad Lauterberg cemetery below the cemetery chapel, was in great need of restoration. - Dr Benjamin Ritscher (1803 - 1859) was a doctor and opened a cold-water spa in Bad Lauterberg in 1839. (Note: Sebastian Kneipp, who is now much better known nationwide for his water treatments, did not carry out his first treatments until 1850, but was not a doctor).  An appeal for donations was successfully launched for the restoration of Dr Benjamin Ritscher's grave cross, and the grave cross was restored. The grave cross was reinstalled in the week before Christmas. The board and advisory board of the support group would like to thank Mr Haase and his employees from Metallbau (metal construction) Haase for their excellent work. The board and advisory board would also like to thank all those who supported us so generously and kindly with donations. Now the cast iron grave cross shines again in new splendour, and the lettering has also been reapplied in golden letters - not so easy, as the former raised lettering had almost weathered away.

Another highlight was the purchase of medals cast at the kings’ hut (Koenigshuette), which were also available thanks to a donation - in this case from our honorary chairman Mr. Hillegeist.

The guided tours that we offered this year were very well attended. 35 regular tours were offered, plus 17 special tours. Special thanks also go to the volunteer guides from the ranks of our members. The final number of visitors has not yet been evaluated, but up to the Open Monument Day, including the Open Monument Day, 309 people attended the public tours, and 173 people attended the special tours up to this date (14 September).  Two guided tours took place on each of the two special days, International Museum Day and Open Monument Day. - The Board of Directors would like to thank all the helpers who contributed to the smooth running of these days and made them a wonderful experience for visitors.

However, as everywhere else, this year was not all positive for the support group. The restoration of the machine factory has come to a standstill, and the reasons and causes are manifold. But I won't go into them in detail here. One positive event in this context was the visit by the Göttingen CDU district parliamentary group. Its members were given a guided tour of the kings’ hut (Koenigshuette) industrial monument, focussing on the machine factory. It is not yet clear whether there will be a donation in this direction in addition to the donation for the guided tour.

This meeting was organised by our association member and CDU district councillor Mr. Hans Otto Arnold. In addition to raising funds for the renovation, the group also wanted to see how the use of the industrial monument as a museum could be promoted. This is because the site is currently designated as an industrial area and is only used as a museum. The owner of the industrial monument is also involved here.  The coming year will have to show what happens next.

With this in mind, once again

                                                         Merry Christmas and all the best for 2026

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