Lower Saxony is Germany's second-largest state by area, stretching from the North Sea coast and the East Frisian islands down through rolling farmland to the forested Harz mountains on its southern border. Its capital, Hannover, is best known for the Herrenhausen Gardens and a compact, walkable Old Town, but the state's UNESCO credentials lie elsewhere: the Romanesque churches of Hildesheim, the thousand-year Rammelsberg silver mine above Goslar, and the vast tidal mudflats of the Wadden Sea along the coast. Half-timbered towns like Celle and Lüneburg preserve centuries of Hanseatic and salt-trading wealth, while Wolfsburg's Autostadt and the university town of Göttingen add an industrial and academic counterpoint to the state's historic core.
Destination Lower Saxony, Germany, Summary Lower Saxony's history spans the Saxon tribes who resisted Charlemagne's Frankish conquest, the Ottonian and Salian emperors who made Goslar an imperial seat funded by Rammelsberg silver, the Welf dynasty's rise under Henry the Lion at Brunswick, the Hanseatic salt wealth of Lüneburg, the 1648 Peace of Westphalia signed partly in Osnabrück, the personal union that placed Hanover's electors on the British throne from 1714 to 1837, Prussia's 1866 annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover, and the postwar founding of the modern state of Lower Saxony in 1946 by merging Hanover with Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe under British occupation administration.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Lower Saxony.
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1
Charlemagne's Saxon Wars subdue the Saxon tribes and incorporate the region into the Frankish Empire.
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2
The Saxon duke Henry the Fowler becomes King of East Francia, founding the Ottonian dynasty.
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3
Silver mining at the Rammelsberg near Goslar is first documented, funding the future imperial palace.
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4
Otto I is crowned Holy Roman Emperor, the first of several Saxon-rooted emperors.
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5
Construction begins on the Kaiserpfalz at Goslar, a favored imperial residence of the Salian emperors.
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6
Henry the Lion erects the Brunswick Lion statue, asserting Welf ducal authority from his Brunswick residence.
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7
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposes Henry the Lion, fragmenting the Duchy of Saxony among rival princes.
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8
Bishop Bernward builds St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, later a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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9
The Peace of Westphalia, partly negotiated in Osnabrück's Rathaus, ends the Thirty Years' War.
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10
Duke August the Younger founds the Herzog August Library at Wolfenbüttel, briefly the largest library in Europe.
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11
Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain, beginning a personal union of the two crowns.
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12
The Congress of Vienna elevates Hanover from an electorate to a Kingdom.
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13
Queen Victoria's accession ends the personal union, as Hanoverian succession law bars a female ruler.
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14
King George V of Hanover builds Marienburg Castle as a gift to his wife, the House of Hanover's last major residence.
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15
Prussia annexes the Kingdom of Hanover after its defeat in the Austro-Prussian War.
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16
Construction begins on the town of Wolfsburg, purpose-built around the new Volkswagen factory.
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17
British forces liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
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18
The British military government founds the state of Lower Saxony, merging Hanover, Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe.
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19
St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim are jointly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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20
Goslar's Altstadt and the Rammelsberg mine are jointly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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21
The Wadden Sea, bordering Lower Saxony's North Sea coast, is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Historical eras
The chapters of Lower Saxony's past.
Historical sites
Places where Lower Saxony's past comes alive.
Herrenhausen Gardens and Palace
A Baroque garden begun in 1666 for the Hanoverian electors, whose court included Georg Ludwig, who became King George I of Great Britain in 1714, beginning the personal union between Hanover and Britain that lasted until 1837.
Where: Hannover, Lower Saxony
Admission: Gesamtkarte (garden + museum) €8 (~$9) adult, €4 (~$5) age 12-17
Celle Castle (Schloss Celle)
A moated Welf residence dating to the 13th century, remodeled into a Renaissance and Baroque ducal palace as the Welf dynasty's territories fragmented into rival duchies including Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Celle, and Hanover.
Where: Celle, Lower Saxony
Admission: €6 (~$7) adult; €4 (~$5) concession
Kaiserpfalz Goslar
One of the largest surviving Romanesque secular buildings in Europe, built from the 1050s as an imperial palace for the Salian emperors, who were drawn to Goslar by the silver wealth of the nearby Rammelsberg mine.
Where: Goslar, Lower Saxony
Admission: €7.50 (~$9) adult; €6.50 (~$8) concession
Rammelsberg Mine (UNESCO World Heritage Ore Mines)
A UNESCO World Heritage mine first documented in 968 and worked continuously for over 1,000 years until closing in 1988, whose silver, copper, and lead extraction funded Goslar's rise as an imperial seat.
Where: Goslar, Lower Saxony
Admission: €10 (~$12) adult; €7 (~$8) concession
Hildesheim St. Mary's Cathedral (Mariendom)
A UNESCO World Heritage cathedral holding the 11th-century bronze doors and column cast under Bishop Bernward, among the most significant surviving works of Ottonian metalwork, inscribed alongside St. Michael's Church in 1985.
Where: Hildesheim, Lower Saxony
Admission: Free entry (donations welcome); treasury and cloister museum €6 (~$7)
St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim
A UNESCO World Heritage Romanesque abbey church built 1010-1022 under Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, its interior largely unaltered since the Ottonian period and inscribed alongside the Mariendom in 1985.
Where: Hildesheim, Lower Saxony
Admission: Free (donations welcome)
Osnabrück Rathaus and Friedenssaal
A late-Gothic town hall where the Protestant powers negotiated the 1648 Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War, its Friedenssaal (Hall of Peace) preserving the original chamber and portraits of the treaty's negotiators.
Where: Osnabrück, Lower Saxony
Admission: Free
Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel
A research library founded in 1572 and expanded from 1666 under Duke August the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, briefly the largest library in Europe, later directed by philosopher and playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
Where: Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony
Admission: €5 (~$6) adult day ticket; €2 (~$2) concession
Marienburg Castle
A neo-Gothic castle built 1858-1867 as a gift from King George V of Hanover to his wife, the last major residence built for the House of Hanover before Prussia annexed the kingdom in 1866.
Where: Pattensen, Lower Saxony
Admission: €12.50 (~$15) adult; €9.50 (~$11) child, when open
Bückeburg Castle (Schloss Bückeburg)
The Renaissance-era seat of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe, one of the smallest sovereign states in the German Empire until 1918, remodeled with an elaborate golden Baroque chapel and still occupied by the family today.
Where: Bückeburg, Lower Saxony
Admission: €7.50 (~$9) adult; €4 (~$5) child
Museums
Curated collections that tell Lower Saxony's story.
Historical tours
Guided experiences that bring history to life.