Nordhausen, a flourishing town of Prussian Saxony, pleasantly situated at the southern base of the Harz Mountains, and the west end of the fertile Goldene Aue ('golden plain'), on the Zorge, 48 miles by rail NNW. of Erfurt. St Blasius, one of its seven churches, contains two paintings by
Cranach; and there are also a quaint town-hall, seventy extensive distilleries of corn-brandy or 'Nordhäuser schnaps' (11,000,000 gals. per annum), and manufactures of tobacco, sugar, leather, chemicals, &c. Dating from 874, and in 1253 created a free imperial city, Nordhausen embraced the Reformation in 1522, and in 1803 fell to Prussia. Pop. (1875) 23,570; (1890) 26,744. See works by Förstermann (1825-55), Lesser (1860), and Girschner (1880).