DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Niedersachsen	Lower Saxony
Landkreise: Heidekreis, Harburg

map →

The Lüneburger Heide (Lüneburg Heath) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hannover and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve. Lüneburg Heath has extensive areas of heathland, typical of those that covered most of the North German countryside until about 1800, but which have almost completely disappeared in other areas. The heaths were formed after the Neolithic period by overgrazing of the once widespread forests on the poor sandy soils of the geest, as this slightly hilly and sandy terrain in northern Europe is called. Lüneburg Heath is therefore a historic cultural landscape. The remaining areas of heath are kept clear mainly through grazing, especially by a North German breed of moorland sheep called the Heidschnucke. Due to its unique landscape, Lüneburg Heath is a popular tourist destination.

Glass no. 4085 shows a view of Totengrund, a basin of about 30 hectares on the edge of Wilseder Berg, the highest elevation (169 m) in the Lüneburg Heath. The basin was most likely formed during the Ice Age, which is now covered with heather and juniper bushes. Besides the Wilseder Berg, it is one of the best-knowns parts of the Lüneburg Heath. The Egestorf pastor Wilhelm Bode bought the site in 1906 with the help of donations. As a result, the Totengrund became the nucleus of the Lüneburg Heath nature reserve established in 1921 as one of the first and largest nature reserves in Germany.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCneburg_Heath]