Gifhorn

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Town in Lower Saxony, Germany

Gifhorn

Town

Old town hall

Coat of arms

Location of Gifhorn within Gifhorn district

Gifhorn

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Gifhorn

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Coordinates: 52°29′19″N 10°32′47″E﻿ / ﻿52.48861°N 10.54639°E﻿ / 52.48861; 10.54639
Country| Germany
State| Lower Saxony
District| Gifhorn
Subdivisions| 6 districts
Government

• Mayor (2019-24) | Matthias Nerlich[1] (CDU)
Area

• Total| 104.86 km2 (40.49 sq mi)
Highest elevation

| 68 m (223 ft)
Lowest elevation

| 50 m (160 ft)
Population

(2021-12-31)[2]

• Total| 42,993
• Density| 410/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Time zone| UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes|

38501–38510, 38516, 38518

Dialling codes| 05371
Vehicle registration| GF
Website| www.stadt-gifhorn.de

Gifhorn (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɪfhɔʁn] ⓘ) is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially important cities nearby, Brunswick and Wolfsburg. Further, Gifhorn is part of the Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region. The Municipality Gifhorn includes the villages of Gamsen, Gifhorn, Kästorf, Neubokel, Wilsche and Winkel.

The oldest verifiable source attests the existence of the city in the year 1196.

Gifhorn is home to the International Wind- and Watermill Museum, which contains a comprehensive collection and working replicas of the world's most common windmills.

## Geography[edit]

Gifhorn lies at the confluence of the Rivers Ise and Aller. Gifhorn is situated about 20 km (12 mi) north of the city of Brunswick and about 15 km (9 mi) west of Wolfsburg. In the city, the Bundesstraße 4 and 188 meet. At the northern end of the city, the Lüneburg Heath starts.

## History[edit]

Old town hall

Gifhorn was first mentioned in 1196. It was located at the crossing of two then important merchant routes: the salt street (German: Salzstraße) being a main trading route for salt between Lüneburg and Brunswick, and the grain street (German: Kornstraße) transporting grain between Celle and Magdeburg.

## Education[edit]

Schools in Gifhorn include the Humboldt Gymnasium, the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium, Fritz-Reuter-Realschule, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Realschule, Albert-Schweitzer-Hauptschule and the Berufsbildenden Schulen I and II. Alfred-Teves-Schule, which was called Volksschule Süd between 1954 and 1958, was open between 1954 and 2010.

## Transport[edit]

Cavalier house from 1546

The Gifhorn rail station is in the southern part of the town.

In the city, the Bundesstraße 4 and 188 meet.

## The Bells Palace[edit]

Glocken-Palast, or The Bells Palace, is a monument and large building in Gifhorn. It was completed after 16 years of construction, combining various Russian timber building styles. Its cornerstone was laid by former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1996.[3]

It was built as a centre to promote cultural exchange across Europe, following the fall of the Iron Curtain.[4]

The Bells Palace will host events and exhibitions celebrating peace, freedom and cultural diversity.

## Twin towns – sister cities[edit]

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gifhorn is twinned with:[5]

* Dumfries, Scotland
* Gardelegen, Germany
* Hallsberg, Sweden
* Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Ukraine
* Xanthi, Greece

## Notable people[edit]

* Heinrich Decimator (c. 1544 – c. 1615), clergyman, author of a universal dictionary (1st edition 1580: German, Latin and Greek, later Hebrew and French added)
* Thorsten Heins (born 1957), manager
* Anna Montanaro (born 1973), musical actress and actress
* Kay-Sölve Richter [de] (born 1974), journalist and newsreader (ZDF)
* Katharina Marie Schubert (born 1977), theater and film actress
* Fabian Klos (born 1987), footballer
* Senta-Sofia Delliponti (born 1990), actress and singer
* Bjarne Thoelke (born 1992), footballer
* Luis Michael Dörrbecker (born 1993), Mexican racing driver

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Verzeichnis der direkt gewählten Bürgermeister/-innen und Landräte/Landrätinnen". Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen. April 2021.
2. ^ "LSN-Online Regionaldatenbank, Tabelle A100001G: Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes, Stand 31. Dezember 2021" (in German). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen.
3. ^ "Bells palace". www.manager.co.th. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
4. ^ Leonid, Louneev. "Russian palace completed in Germany after 16 years". BBC News. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
5. ^ "Unsere Partnerstädte in Europa". stadt-gifhorn.de (in German). Gifhorn. Retrieved 2019-11-24.

## External links[edit]

* Gifhorn travel guide from Wikivoyage
* Official website (in German)
* International museum of mills (in German)

* v
* t
* e

Towns and municipalities in Gifhorn (district)

* Adenbüttel
* Barwedel
* Bergfeld
* Bokensdorf
* Brome
* Calberlah
* Dedelstorf
* Didderse
* Ehra-Lessien
* Gifhorn
* Groß Oesingen
* Hankensbüttel
* Hillerse
* Isenbüttel
* Jembke
* Leiferde
* Meine
* Meinersen
* Müden (Aller)
* Obernholz
* Osloß
* Parsau
* Ribbesbüttel
* Rötgesbüttel
* Rühen
* Sassenburg
* Schönewörde
* Schwülper
* Sprakensehl
* Steinhorst
* Tappenbeck
* Tiddische
* Tülau
* Ummern
* Vordorf
* Wagenhoff
* Wahrenholz
* Wasbüttel
* Wesendorf
* Westerbeck (Sassenburg)
* Weyhausen
* Wittingen

Coat of arms

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* Israel
* United States
* Czech Republic

Geographic|

* MusicBrainz area

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