Am Großen Bruch

Hamersleben parish church

Coat of arms

Am Großen Bruch

Location of Am Großen Bruch within Börde district

Coordinates: 52°4′N 11°5′E / 52.067°N 11.083°ECoordinates: 52°4′N 11°5′E / 52.067°N 11.083°E

Country

Area

• Total

50.12 km² (19.35 sq mi)

Elevation

99 m (325 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

2,139

• Density

43/km² (110/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

39393

039401

Website

www.vgem-
westlicheboerde.de

Am Großen Bruch is a municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Westliche Börde.

The municipality arose on July 1, 2004 by the merger of the villages Gunsleben, Hamersleben, Neudamm and Neuwegersleben. The name Großes Bruch meaning "Great Wetland" denotes the swampy area of a former glacial valley, stretching about 45 km (28 mi) from Oschersleben and the Bode River in the east to Hornburg in the west. For centuries the inaccessible bog formed the border between the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the Bishopric of Halberstadt.

Hamersleben was first mentioned in a 1021 deed and in 1111 became the home of an Augustinian Canons Regular monastery which Reinhard, Bishop of Halberstadt had established at Osterwieck three years earlier. The double monastery also became the seat of an archdeacon in 1178. It joined the Congregation of Windesheim in 1452. During the Protestant Reformation Hamersleben was devastated in the course of the German Peasants' War in 1525, again by the troops of the then Lutheran Archbishopric of Magdeburg and once again by the forces of the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War. Nevertheless the abbey retained Roman Catholic confession until its dissolution in 1804. The Catholic monastery church of Saint Pancras is a Romanesque building which is known for its Baroque pipe organ built in 1688. Today it is a stop on the scenic Romanic Road.

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Wikipedia