Citizen Tower (Neuenstein)
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The citizen tower in Neuenstein in Hohenloher Land is a remnant of the former city fortifications. Today it serves as a lookout tower , as a hiking home and as a clubhouse for the Neuensteiner local group in the Swabian Alb Association .
history
The citizen tower was built in 1620 under the direction of the Hohenlohe master builder Georg Kern to improve the fortification of the city at the beginning of the Thirty Years War . It replaced a previous building in the same place. The round, 26 meter high tower was the main tower of the city fortifications, as it stood at its highest point, in the northeast corner of the city wall. For this reason it was also called the upper gate tower, other names were Bärcher or rope tower. However, the tower should never be involved in major combat operations.
After the Thirty Years' War the tower was used as a poor apartment and as accommodation for the night watchman and other city servants. In 1835 the tower was so dilapidated that consideration was given to demolishing it. However, because of its function as a symbol of the city, it was preserved, only the Welsche hood on the tower roof was broken off in 1836. In 1900 the tower had to be renovated again, whereby it was surrounded by an iron hoop to secure it.
In 1911 the city of Neuenstein gave the tower to the local Prince Christian Kraft on the occasion of his 75th birthday. It is possible that this donation was a kind of " white elephant ", as the maintenance of the tower had previously caused the city high costs. In the 1970s, the then prince, Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, renovated the tower and handed it over to the Swabian Alb Association. Its local group converted it into a hiking home by 1982.
Todays use
The tower now serves as a hiking home, clubhouse for the Neuenstein SAV local group and as a lookout tower. The view extends over parts of the Hohenlohe plain as far as Waldenburg , in the south it is limited by the heights of the Swabian-Franconian Forest that begin a few kilometers behind Neuenstein .
Web links
- Information on the citizen tower (Swabian Alb Association)
- The citizen tower (website Schloss Neuenstein)
Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 19.6 ″ N , 9 ° 34 ′ 54.6 ″ E