The city of Göttingen, famous for its sausages and universities, belongs to the King of Hanover and contains 999 fireplaces, various churches, a maternity hospital, an observatory, a prison, a library, and a council cellar where the beer is very good. This is the starting point of Heine's 'Harzreise', which greatly contributed to his early fame and strikes an ironic tone of disrespect from the outset, distinguishing Heine refreshingly from the classical and romantic epigonism of many of his contemporaries.