Our Adventure Trails

From ore to metal

Go on an exciting historical journey into the Ilsenburg past.

The history of the development of the iron and steel industry and metal processing in Ilsenburg is impressively illustrated on the new "iron path". Ilsenburg's history spanning more than a thousand years shows that the Harz mineral resources, above all the iron and copper ores, the forest with its wood reserves and the hydropower of the Ilse were starting points and prerequisites for the settlement of people and thus for the development of craft and industry. In the early Middle Ages, Ilsenburg was a place of iron and brass production and processing. More than 40 waterwheels along the course of the river converted the power of the flowing water into drive energy for bellows for the artificial generation of combustion air for the many racing ovens, the "high ovens" and forge fires as well as for steel mills for ore crushing and for the many hammer and rolling mills for metal forming. The iron trail conveys industrial history and technical and technological knowledge about the long, eventful and successful path from ore smelting to modern heavy plate production and the manufacture of wheel sets, camshafts and handlebar tubes for the automotive industry..

The rock world of the Harz

An interesting overview of the rock world of the Harz you can get on the rock trail. The path features many different rocks, ores and fossils that were found in the Harz area. 

On the trail of a small weevil with a great appetite

The bark beetle is considered by many to be the number one enemy of the forest, because where it attacks it leaves behind bare areas, dead trees and dead wood. He also did a great job in the area of the bark beetle path a few years ago. But if you look closely, you can see what's coming after him. The adventure stations with attractive information boards along the way show the local bark beetle activities as well as their biological backgrounds and causes. In a few years nature will have overgrown the destruction of the beetle, so the bark beetle path is only a temporary nature trail. Until then, you have the unique opportunity to experience the emergence of a new forest up close.