Königslutter

Königslutter
Old town and monastery church (Kaiserdom)
Coat of arms
Königslutter
Coordinates: 52°15′N 10°49′E / 52.250°N 10.817°E / 52.250; 10.817Coordinates: 52°15′N 10°49′E / 52.250°N 10.817°E / 52.250; 10.817
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Helmstedt
First mentioned	1135
Government
• Mayor	Alexander Hoppe (SPD)
Area
• Total	130.58 km2 (50.42 sq mi)
Elevation	134 m (440 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	15,733
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	38154
Dialling codes	05353
Vehicle registration	HE
Website	www.koenigslutter.de

Königslutter am Elm is a town in the district of Helmstedt in Lower Saxony, Germany.

It is located on the northeastern slopes of the Elm hill range, within the Elm-Lappwald Nature Park, about 23 km (14 mi) east of Brunswick, 15 km (9.3 mi) west of the district capital Helmstedt, and 20 km (12 mi) south of Wolfsburg.

The town has access to the Brunswick–Magdeburg railway at the Königslutter railway station, served by Regionalbahn trains to Brunswick and Helmstedt, and is traversed by the Bundesstraße 1 federal highway. The Bundesautobahn 2 runs about 6 km (3.7 mi) north of the town centre. Königslutter is a stop on the German Timber-Frame Road (Deutsche Fachwerkstraße) tourist route.

In its current form, the township with about 16,000 inhabitants was created in a 1974 administrative reform by joining the following 18 municipalities:

A village called Lûtere in the Duchy of Saxony was first mentioned in a 1135 deed, when Emperor Lothair III established a Benedictine monastery here, centered on the Sts Peter and Paul Church, a prominent Romanesque basilica where he and his consort Richenza of Northeim as well as his son-in-law, the Welf duke Henry the Proud are also buried. The place was named after the nearby karst spring of the Lutter (from Middle High German: lauter, "pure") stream in the Elm hills.