NORTHEIM

town, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. It lies on the Leine River, 12 miles (19 km) north of Gttingen, and is served by two autobahn access roads and a rail junction. The site dates from the 9th century. It obtained civic rights in 1252 (being then the seat of the counts of Northeim) and later became successively a market village and a member of the mercantile Hanseatic League. A Protestant town during the Reformation, it was stormed by imperial troops in 1627 and generally suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War. It came under the control of Hanover and then Prussia (1866). Despite such wars, the town has managed to preserve much of its medieval architectural character, with many half-timbered buildings and extensive remains of the old town walls. (Outside the walls, parts of the town have grown up in a modern style.) Of the Benedictine abbey of Sankt Blasien, founded in 1080 and dissolved at the Reformation, there survive only a chapel, some offices, and monastic houses. Other sites include the restored Church of Sankt Sixtus and various medieval houses. Northeim's industries include machinery construction, metalworking, sugar processing, prefabricated housing, and various food-processing enterprises related to local agriculture. Pop. (1995 est.) 32,476.