Gernrode

Gernrode
Stadtteil of Quedlinburg
View from the Harz mountains
Coat of arms
Gernrode
Coordinates: 51°43′28″N 11°8′21″E / 51.72444°N 11.13917°E / 51.72444; 11.13917Coordinates: 51°43′28″N 11°8′21″E / 51.72444°N 11.13917°E / 51.72444; 11.13917
Country	Germany
State	Saxony-Anhalt
District	Harz
Town	Quedlinburg
Area
• Total	34.07 km2 (13.15 sq mi)
Population (2012-12-31)
• Total	3,533
• Density	100/km2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	06507
Dialling codes	039485
Vehicle registration	HZ
Website	www.stadt-gernrode.de

Imperial Abbey of St Cyriacus in Gernrode
Reichsabtei Sankt Cyriakus in Gernrode
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
999–1614 (de facto) –1728 (de jure)
Capital		Gernrode
Government		Theocracy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Founded by Gero	959
•	Gained Reichsfreiheit     from Emperor Otto II	25 March 964
•	Abbess raised to     gubernatrix	999
•	Askanian protection	1149–1616
•	Gernrode named a city	1539
•	Sophia Elizabeth last elected abbess	1593–1614
•	Abbey formally     transferred to Anhalt     by Emp. Charles VI	1728
•	Final investiture of abbot     by Emp. Francis II	1802
Preceded by Succeeded by Northern March Anhalt-Dessau
Today part of		Germany

Gernrode is a historic town and former municipality in the Harz District, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2014, it has been part of Quedlinburg. It was the seat of the former Verwaltungsgemeinschaft ("municipal association") of Gernrode/Harz.

First mentioned in 961, Gernrode received the privilege to bear its own coat of arms and seal, commonly regarded as town privileges. The town is best known for the Ottonian church of Saint Cyriakus, the collegiate church of a former Imperial chapter of nuns, and as the start of the narrow gauge Selke Valley Railway.

Gernrode is situated at the northeastern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park, about 6.5 km (4.0 mi) south of Quedlinburg. It lies at 215 m (705 ft) above sea level, at the foot of the Ramberg massif. It is nationally recognized for its health facilities and has state recognition as a spa town, where one may take the cure and recuperate in general (staatlich anerkannter Kur- und Erholungsort).

The town is also known as 'Gernrode/Harz', because of its location in the Harz mountains, and to distinguish it from Gernrode in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, also called 'Gernrode (Eichsfeld)'.

In 959 the Saxon margrave Gero founded a convent of canonesses in the Schwabengau territory, within the grounds of the Geronisroth fortification he built about the same time. He also founded the collegiate church for the convent, which King Otto I took under his special protection by a 961 deed. It was dedicated to Saint Cyriacus, whose relics Gero brought back for the church from his second journey to Rome in 963. Without male heirs, he bequested his vast properties to the convent and made his daughter-in-law Hathui (d. 1014), widow of his son Siegfried, first abbess. She was succeeded by Adelaide, a sister of Emperor Otto III, who also was Princess-abbess of Quedlingburg since 999.