Elze
Town
Coat of arms of Elze
Coat of arms
Location of Elze within Hildesheim district
Elze is located in Germany
Elze
Elze
Elze is located in Lower Saxony
Elze
Elze
Coordinates: 52°7′N 09°44′E / 52.117°N 9.733°E / 52.117; 9.733
CountryGermany
StateLower Saxony
DistrictHildesheim
Government
 • Mayor (2020–25) Wolfgang Schurmann[1] (CDU)
Area
 • Total47.71 km2 (18.42 sq mi)
Elevation
79 m (259 ft)
Population
 (2021-12-31)[2]
 • Total8,973
 • Density190/km2 (490/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
31008
Dialling codes05068
Vehicle registrationHI
Websitewww.elze.de

Elze (German pronunciation: [ˈɛlt͡sə] ⓘ) is a town in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Hildesheim. The municipality of Elze also comprises the villages of Esbeck, Mehle, Sehlde, Sorsum, Wittenburg and Wülfingen.

St Peter and Paul
Town hall

Elze is one of the oldest settlement in the area, as its name stems from Latin: aula caesaris, a castle of Charlemagne which he had established about 800 in the Saxon estates after his victory over duke Widukind in the Saxon Wars. The emperor also founded a missionary diocese here, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul which became the origin of the Bishopric of Hildesheim. King Louis the Pious relocated the episcopal see to Hildesheim in 815, however the Lutheran parish church is still devoted to Peter and Paul and the saints are also depicted in the town's coat of arms.

The village of Wittenburg is the site of a former Augustininan canons regular monastery, established in the 14th century in the place of a former castle, maybe erected by members of the Billung dynasty as early as 805. The abbey decayed in the course of the Protestant Reformation, while the Gothic monastery church is preserved.

In 1856 the Kingdom of Hanover opened the Hanoverian Southern Railway (Hannöversche Südbahn) from Hanover to Kassel with a station in Elze. After the annexation by Prussia in 1866, the town became an important railway junction with the building of the Elze–Löhne railway (Weserbahn) to Löhne in Westphalia by entrepreneur Bethel Henry Strousberg, finished in 1875. Elze is also the junction of the Bundesstraße 1 and Bundesstraße 3 federal highways.

Notable people

Twin town

References

  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. ↑ "Jumelage - Commune d'Écouché-les-Vallées - Site officiel". www.ecouchelesvallees.fr.
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