Online-Card - Gardelegen

The Hanseatic town of Gardelegen, with its some 11,700 inhabitants, lies at the heart of the Altmark region.

The original settlement grew up around the 11th century castle, and is first known to have been documented as a rural town in 1196.  It occupies a site beside a ford at the confluence of the rivers Milde and Lausebach.

Because of its strategically advantageous position at the intersection of several trading routes and surrounded by moorland and forest, it soon developed into a commercial centre whose importance was recognised both near and far. Long-distance traders from the Magdeburg area who were travelling to Lüneburg and the North Sea ports were able to find a safe haven here, relax, reload their goods, repair their carts and also barter and stock up on other commodities. The local people prospered from the commerce and from the services they were able to provide.
Most of the trade was in cereals and other farm products. This was later to include products typical of Gardelegen: hops and, eventually, Garley beer.

Although little documentation has survived, it now appears that Gardelegen was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1358 until about 1488.

The town flourished in the late Middle Ages to an extent unparalleled for centuries to come in the wake of the Thirty Years’ War.

Many stone artefacts have survived which can trace their origins back to the late mediaeval heyday of trade, artisanship and the Hanseatic League:

• Two Gothic brick churches with valuable Christian artworks.
• A prestigious town hall with Gothic origins, whose façade is decorated with the coats of arms of the Altmark Hanseatic towns.
• Remains of the once extensive town fortifications with the imposing Salzwedel Gate.
• A self-contained Old Town, which, despite burning down on several occasions in the past, still betrays its mediaeval origins in its layout. Below many of the old town houses are the still well-preserved vaulted cellars of the town’s brewhouses, which once numbered more than 200.

Hops and beer, which for centuries symbolised the prosperity of the town and its people, can still be found in Gardelegen today. For instance, three hop tendrils ornament the town’s coat of arms, and Garley beer is still being brewed, and is known and enjoyed far beyond the town itself.

The ‘town walls’ – the park which encircles the Old Town, with its more than 100-year-old avenue of lime trees, the remains of historic fortifications, a moat, the ruins of former watchtowers and the three town gates, is particularly popular with the inhabitants of Gardelegen and their visitors alike. In recent years, considerable expense has been invested in restoring and reconstructing the park and its historic monuments. In 2004, the walls were included in the state conservation project known as ‘Garden Dreams – Historic Parks in Saxony-Anhalt’.

In Hanseatic times, the triangular market-place lay at the intersection of two major trade routes. Since 2002, it has been watched over by a stone statue of Roland, a symbol of mediaeval justice whose predecessor collapsed in 1727.

But monuments from our more recent past are also cherished, such as the memorial to the comedian Otto Reutter (1870-1931), who was probably Gardelegen’s most famous son.

Gardelegen is located on the northern extremity of the Colbitz-Letzling Heath, once the royal imperial hunting ground of the Hohenzollerns. The magnificent hunting lodge in nearby Letzlingen dates from this period.

The densely wooded landscape in which the town is set therefore offers many opportunities for excursions to the great outdoors, for instance to the area around Lindenthal or the open moorland landscape on the Kellerberge hills near Kloster-Neuendorf.

A few kilometres to the west of the town is the manor park at Weteritz, a dendrological gem with many old, sometimes exotic tree specimens.

In nearby Kloster-Neuendorf is the former Cistercian nunnery with its Gothic brick church and valuable mediaeval stained glass.