Der Hollerweg im Alten Land

The Hollerweg explains the peculiarities of the Hollerkolonie by examples on site

The region between Stade and Hamburg in the glacial valley of the Elbe, which we today know as "Three Miles Altes Land" and "largest closed fruit-growing area in Northern Europe", would naturally be flooded twice a day at high tide. In the early 12th century Dutch follow the call of the Bremen archbishop. With painstaking manual work with a shovel and a cart, they turn swamp into fertile marshes. They build dikes and drainage systems and receive their own land. They bring along the hydraulic engineering knowledge and their Dutch law. They settle in Sietland next to the "Sassischen" (Saxons), who live on the higher bank areas. The fear of the floods unites them. "Who does not want to die, courage" is law and where the dike judge puts the spade in the dike, the yard is lost ...

In the Old Country we feel these medieval roots and the Dutch heritage everyday. The Hollerweg leads us to remarkable traces of the Hollerkolonisation in the Altländer cultural landscape. We call these examples "time windows". They allow a glimpse into history, make the invisible alive and describe "the way" - that is the way - why the old land became as it is. All examples represent one or more of the six themes that characterize the Old Country:

• Water engineering

Dykes, poldering, ditch system, bettors, locks, slate

• settlement structure

Deichhufen- and Marschhufendörfer, traffic routes, courtyards, villages on bridges, building on the dike

• The right of the Dutch

Dike law, young law, women's rights, no compulsory guild for craftsmen,

early democratic structures

• Agriculture & Fruit Growing

Fertile marshy soils, special / mild microclimate,

Integrated production, organic farming, upstream and downstream specialist companies, science

• Shipping & Trade

Shipping, ports, shipyards, old countries Ship types, feeder ships, knowledge transfer through trade

• Old lands cultural assets

Architecture of the Fachhallenhäuser, Schmuckgiebel, splendor gates, churches, organ culture (Arp Schnitger), costumes, filigree jewelry, Altländer furniture, inventions

One thing determines the other and leads to what surrounds us today in the Old Country.

On the time windows of the Hollerweg the cultural heritage can be experienced by locals and strangers. The Hollerweg in Alten Land - Understanding the beginning, experiencing the legacy was launched on the occasion of the European Heritage Year 2018. It is the Beirtag of the municipality Jork in co-operation with the velvet municipality Luhe and the association for the acknowledgment of the Old country to the world heritage of the UNESCO registered association to Sharing Heritage and became with federal means by the Minister of State for culture and media and the national committee for monument protection with the representative of the Federal Government for Culture and the Media.

The app was created as part of this sharing heritage project in late 2019. It will grow as well as the website with the Hollerweg. The information content is varied and presented in a variety of ways. The material was created by several working groups. The students of the two Altländer Oberschulen have developed topics on the time windows. Access to the time slots is available through the app, on-site QR codes and through the website.

"We thank our two high schools and the two libraries that they are so dedicated to supporting us in this large project and we wish teachers and students a lot of fun and success with this special task."

- Intercommunal Working Group World Heritage -