Ohrdorf Explained

Type:Ortsteil
Ohrdorf
Town:Wittingen
Coordinates:52.6978°N 10.8083°W
State:Lower Saxony
District:Gifhorn
Elevation:80
Area:12.43
Population:397
Population As Of:2017-12-31
Pop Ref:[1]
Postal Code:29378
Area Code:05839

The village of Ohrdorf lies in the north German state of Lower Saxony in the district of Gifhorn and belongs to the town of Wittingen.

The village takes its name from the river Ohre, which rises near the village and empties into the Elbe north of Magdeburg.[2] In East German times the state border ran down the centre of the Ohre not far from the village. The nearest settlement on the East German side was Haselhorst; but it was no longer accessible after the 1950s and the road link was not reopened until 1990.

St. Laurence Church (Laurentius-Kirche), built in 1235, is a fieldstone church and has a Gothic polyptych from the year 1470. According to legend the altar was intended for a church in Wittingen. The wagon on which the altar was carried, broke a wheel in Ohrdorf, an incident that the villagers exploited in order to make the driver drunk and to take the altar for their own church. The pulpit dates to 1700, the ceiling paintings to 1711.

North of Ohrdorf is a residential windmill.

Sources

References

  1. Web site: Einwohnerstatistik Stadt Wittingen. 24 September 2021.
  2. Rudi Fischer: 800 Jahre Calvörde – Eine Chronik bis 1991.