Ahrensburg

Ahrensburg is a town in the district of Stormarn, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located northeast of Hamburg and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Its population is around 31,000. Schloss Ahrensburg, the town's symbol, is a Renaissance castle dating from 1595.GeographyAhrensburg is situated in the Tunneltal, in which Alfred Rust excavated many items dating back to the ice age.Ahrensburg is situated next to the Autobahn A1 and on the railway route between the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck.HistoryEarly historyThe Ahrensburger Tunneltal is a place of numerous excavations from the Upper Paleolithic culture. The culture is called Ahrensburg culture by archaeologists.Middle AgesThe town dates back to the 13th Century, when the Counts of Schauenburg founded the village of Woldenhorn (which later became the town of Ahrensburg) and the neighbouring villages Ahrensfelde, Meilsdorf and Beimoor. Woldenhorn is first mentioned in the year 1314. The village came into the possession of the Cistercian Reinfeld Abbey in 1327, and Woldenhorn became the seat of the monastery reeve until the middle of the 16th century.