Zwehrenturm
The Zwehrenturm even Zwehrener tower called, is a remnant of the former city fortifications of Kassel , which was demolished in 1767-1774. It was built in the Gothic style in 1330 and served as a city gate towards Frankfurt. Up until the 17th century, a prison was set up in the lower part of the tower for better-class prisoners , most of whom came from the vicinity of the Hessian court.
Along with the Druselturm, the Zwehrenturm is one of the few surviving medieval buildings in Kassel. It is opposite the Elisabeth Hospital at the top of Steinweg, at the corner of Oberste Gasse and the beginning of Frankfurter Strasse. In terms of construction, it is integrated into the Museum Fridericianum .
City gate and prison
The Zwehrenturm is part of the city wall of the newly founded district of Kasseler Freiheit in 1330 . The tower was integrated into the city fortifications in the early modern period. The building, unchanged in its outer walls except for the window openings and the attic, originally had a pyramidal hood . Serious accidents repeatedly occurred in the narrow passage of the gate, so that in 1597 the “New Gate” was built near today's Königsplatz and the Zwehrener Gate was closed.
Even if the tower served as a prison for the higher classes, it was as sparsely furnished as the Druselturm. In an inventory from 1612 only two benches, a table and a small stove appear. A torture bench from the tower is said to be in the magazine of the Hessian State Museum . Until 1639 the Drusel flowed through the gate and poured into the fortification ditch there. Probably in the course of renovation work, a sovereign coat of arms relief was added to the eastern front in 1554.
observatory
In 1709, Landgrave Karl had the tower converted into an observatory with a rotating dome. The previous observatory in the Landgrafenschloss was relocated to the Zwehrenturm. As early as 1714, Karl had today's Palais Bellevue built as a new larger observatory. How much the Zwehrenturm was used later is unclear. The dome, which can be rotated by running wheels and a hand crank, is said to have not proven itself due to its strong fluctuations. The slewing mechanism was later built into the dome of the Ottoneum .
Landgrave Friedrich II had the observatory connected to the newly built Fridericianum in 1779 . The dome was torn off and replaced by Simon Louis du Ry with the octagonal observatory room that still exists today. The bells of the tower were moved into the new roof turret of the garrison church . The astronomical collection, which is now part of the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet , was located in this astronomical tower until 1913 .
Todays use
The rooms of the tower are used in the museum operations of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum . For documenta 6 in 1977, part of the laser installation by the Düsseldorf artist Horst H. Baumann was installed on the Zwehrenturm, which connects the Zwehrenturm, the orangery and the Hercules with laser beams. The installation was later reactivated as Laserscape Kassel and is still in operation today in a modified form.
During documenta 14 from April 8 to September 17, 2017, the tower will be the location of Daniel Knorr's work of art Expiration Movement : five smoke machines generate white wafts of smoke every day, which, according to the artist, either reflect the white smoke at the end of a papal election , smoking factory chimneys or the Can remember book burning during the Nazi era.
literature
- Alois Holtmeyer: The architectural and art monuments in the Kassel administrative region, Bd. VI . Marburg 1923.
Web links
- Zwehrenturm , on kassel.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Calendar entry for Expiration Movement. documenta 14, accessed on June 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Mark-Christian von Busse, Kathrin Meyer: Smoke art causes excitement: documenta artwork on the Zwehrenturm. HNA , April 10, 2017, accessed June 12, 2017 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 49.3 " N , 9 ° 29 ′ 54" E