A mountain village of timber houses and villas below the Brocken, with a granite church and a spa park.
What Schierke looks like
Schierke is the last village below the Brocken summit, at about 600 to 650 metres in the valley of the Kalte Bode. Most houses are one or two storeys under pitched roofs, many of them red tile. Many fronts are dark timber. Others are pale render with half-timbering.
Brockenstraße is the main road through the village, asphalt with houses set along both sides. Past the north-west exit public motor traffic is barred. Cyclists and walkers can still use the road. Supply vehicles for the summit use it too.
The Kurpark lies on the south side of Brockenstraße, where the ground falls away toward the Kalte Bode. Large granite boulders stand in the park. Water displays and the Heiliger See are there too. A stream runs through the park over mossy boulders.
The is a neo-Gothic church of granite, built between 1876 and 1881. The tower has a clock on two faces. A steep spire rises above it. The church stands on Hagenstraße, the street that continues into Brockenstraße.
is the Brocken railway's station. It stands at 687 metres, somewhat above the village and inside the national park. The Feuersteinklippe, a rock outcrop, lies a little north of the station.
Forested hills rise above the rooftops. On the slopes around the village, dead spruce stands grey among the living trees. Clear-cut ground shows between the stands in places.
Shot in Schierke
The ZDF television film Schattengrund shot most of its scenes in Schierke between 17 November and 13 December 2017, the church among them. An episode of the East German police series Polizeiruf 110 was also shot in Schierke between 25 October and 11 December 1977.
Schattengrund, 2018
Bergkirche Schierke
Played the village church, Siebenlehen, a fictional Harz village
The production shot in and around the Bergkirche. One scene was filmed inside the church. The film's village, Siebenlehen, is fictional and appears on no map. Street View
What Schierke can double for
Semmering in Lower Austria, Austria
Resort hotels in a wooded mountain setting match Schierke's hotels and villas. The Südbahnhotel of 1882 and the Hotel Panhans of 1888 show the scale to look for. The town sits in forest on the border of Lower Austria and Styria. Wide shots of the grand hotel fronts give the comparison away, so keep frames tight on villas and street fronts. Try searching mountain resort hotels now.
Zakopane in Podhale, Poland
Witkiewicz's Zakopane style villas date from the 1890s, when Schierke's resort villas were going up. The town lies in a valley at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, as Schierke lies below the Brocken. The Tatra peaks rise well above the town, so wide frames of the skyline give the comparison away. Try searching Zakopane style villas now.
