Haußelberg
Encyclopedia
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
in the north German district of Celle. It is a popular viewing point in the otherwise very flat terrain of the Südheide Nature Park
Südheide Nature Park
The Südheide Nature Park is a large protected area of forest and heathland in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany...
.
In 1820 King George IV of England
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
tasked the Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Göttingen University, Carl Friedrich Gauß, to survey the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
. The mathematician Gauß used the summit of the Haußelberg as one of the triangulation station
Triangulation station
A triangulation station, also known as a triangulation pillar, trigonometrical station, trigonometrical point, trig station, trig beacon or trig point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity...
s for his land surveys, triangulating it to the Falkenberg
Falkenberg (Lüneburg Heath)
The Falkenberg lies in the northwestern part of the district of Celle in northern Germany. It is one of the highest points on the Lüneburg Heath. In good weather Hanover is visible from its summit...
, 150 metres (492.1 ft) AMSL, further west near Wardböhmen
Wardböhmen
Wardböhmen is a village administered by the Lower Saxon town of Bergen in the northern part of Celle district on the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany. It lies about north of Bergen on the B 3 federal road.- History :...
and to the Wilseder Berg
Wilseder Berg
At the Wilseder Berg is the highest point on the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany.- Description :The Wilseder Berg is part of a nature reserve within the Lüneburg Heath and lies near the villages of Wilsede and Bispingen in the Heidekreis. The hill was formed during the penultimate ice age, the...
, 169 metres (554.5 ft) AMSL, to the north. Another triangle was formed by the Haußelberg, the Falkenberg and Breithorn (Breitenhorn), 117 metres (383.9 ft) AMSL, south of Unterlüß
Unterlüß
Unterlüß is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 30 km northeast of Celle, and 25 km southwest of Uelzen....
. It has to be deduced that these points - the Breithorn, Haußelberg and Falkenberg - which are all hidden by woods today, were then on open, unforested hilltops, probably surrounded by heathland. Not until the large, systematic afforestation in the 2nd half of the 19th century did today's wooded hilltops emerge.
In 2005 a new trig point was erected on the Haußelberg, near the original stone
Triangulation station
A triangulation station, also known as a triangulation pillar, trigonometrical station, trigonometrical point, trig station, trig beacon or trig point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity...
.
Part of the triangulation network used for Gauß's survey was pictured on the reverse side of the 4th series of 10 Deutschmark banknotes.
Faßberg
Faßberg is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 35 km north of Celle, and 30 km west of Uelzen.-Places of interest:* Historic village centre of Müden * Berlin Airlift memorial* St...
). In a letter to his friend Dr. Olbers he wrote: