Druselturm

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The Druselturm today, the slight inclination is clearly visible
Around 1900 the Druselturm towered over most of Kassel's buildings

The Druselturm is a remnant of the former city fortifications of Kassel , which was demolished between 1767 and 1774. The 44 meter high round tower is located in the city center on Druselplatz, part of Hedwigstrasse. It is one of the few surviving medieval buildings in Kassel. The course of the former city wall is marked in the course of Hedwigstraße by colored paving stones . Next to the Zwehrenturm , it is the last tower of the Kassel city fortifications.

history

The Druselturm was built in 1415 at a weak point in the city ​​wall of the young city expansion Liberty , at the point where the water of the Drusel was directed into the city. The water was previously collected in a pond in front of the tower and, if necessary, channeled through the streets of the city in shallow gutters, the "Druseln", in order to clean the streets. The Druselmühle is said to have been located in the same place as the tower. In order to finance the construction of the tower, the city council had to borrow money. According to a debt deed of February 3, 1414, 150 gulden from a Hans Syberg and his son from Spangenberg.

Originally the Druselturm served as a defense tower and prison. The prisoners were lowered into the dungeons below through a hole in the floor of the tower. From 1526 there is an invoice for six Albus for a rope to let the prisoners in and out. Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous , who himself had been imprisoned for five years between 1547 and 1552, had the dungeons fitted with heating. The tower was later used as a smokehouse and material store.

The helmet of the Druselturm originally had six oriel turrets , which were removed when the roof was renewed in 1686. They were arranged above the topmost windows. In April 1905 the tower burned down completely. It was not until 1906 that the tower received its new hood with the four small oriel turrets that shaped the cityscape until the Second World War . During the air raid on Kassel in October 1943, the Druselturm remained undamaged except for the roof, which was covered by bombs. During the reconstruction after the war, the previous smooth conical roof was returned. At the end of the 1940s the tower was used as a photo studio.

Today the building is empty and is not accessible.

Building description

The interior of the Druselturm on the fourth floor

The main structural components of the Druselturm are still preserved today. The tower, which is 44 meters high today, has a circular floor plan with a diameter of 9.20 meters. The tower has a height of 27.10 meters up to the edge of the roof. In the basement, the walls are up to 2.75 meters thick. The former domed vault of the basement is lost and can only be guessed at its support bearings. On the outside of the first floor, a small remnant of the former battlement of the city wall runs supported by consoles . The current roof corresponds to that of 1686. The tower is in a slightly inclined position, only the last floor and the hood no longer deviate from the perpendicular.

literature

  • Alois Holtmeyer: The architectural and art monuments in the Kassel administrative district, Bd. VI , Marburg 1923

Web links

Commons : Druselturm  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the royal seat of Cassel , Hugo Brunner, Kassel 1913, p. 82
  2. ^ History of the capital and residence city of Kassel , FC Th. Piderit, Kassel 1844, p. 106
  3. ↑ Kassel is alive! A new beginning out of rubble , Frank-Roland Glaube, Gudensberg 1990, p. 89

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 59 ″  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 58 ″  E