Bismarck Tower (Quedlinburg)
The Bismarck tower in Quedlinburg in Saxony-Anhalt is the oldest Bismarck tower in the state.
location
The tower registered in the Quedlinburg monument register is located on the Bleichberg in the center of the Johannishain park south of Quedlinburg city center on the edge of the Süderstadt district .
history
The tower goes back to a suggestion of the Quedlinburg city councilor Georg Vogler , who proposed the construction as early as 1894, while Otto von Bismarck , who was to be honored with it, was still alive . On the occasion of Bismarck's 80th birthday, Vogler donated 1,000 marks to build the tower. The mayor of Quedlinburg, Gustav Brecht, informed the city council on March 27, 1895 about the grant. The city council unanimously approved the building project.
The foundation stone was laid on April 1, 1895 on the Bleicheberg, at a height of 215 meters above sea level. The site belonged to the neighboring St. Johannis Hospital . The surrounding park was also renamed Bismarckhain .
The construction was carried out according to plans by the Quedlinburg city building councilor Gaul . In total, the construction costs amounted to 7,645 marks, which were financed from donations.
The inauguration took place on April 1, 1896. The coat of arms above the door was damaged in a lightning strike in the summer of 1905.
In the period after the Second World War , from a political point of view, the tower was renamed St. John's Tower after the neighboring ecclesiastical monastery and everything referring to Bismarck was removed. In 1957 the St. Johannis Hospital was expropriated and the tower became the property of the city of Quedlinburg. At first the tower served as a lookout tower . The tower was then closed around the mid-1970s. In addition to the lack of maintenance work, a lightning strike had caused new damage. The spire was dismantled.
The tower was renovated between 1992 and 1994. It got its original name and the historical lettering Bismarkthurm . In August 1992 a new spire was added. The terrace is now enclosed by a chain stretched between posts, which, however, had already been partially destroyed in April 1995. The number of steps leading to the terrace has been increased to five. The entrance door is locked by a black grille.
The Bismarck Tower was returned to the Evangelical Parish (today: Evangelical Parish of Quedlinburg).
The original parapet on the viewing platform broke off completely by 2001 and was initially stored in the Quedlinburg building yard.
The park and tower were sold to a private investor in 2014 by the owner, United Evangelical Holy Spirit and Sankt Johannis Hospitalgemeinde zu Quedlinburg .
Currently (as of 2018) the tower is closed to visitors.
architecture
A 20 meter high tower made of granite and limestone was built on a specially created terrace with a round floor plan . The tower did not have a fire bowl , as is often the case with other Bismarck towers.
Four stone steps led to the tower, slightly offset to the front door. The terrace was bordered by a railing.
The lower storey of the tower is octagonal and faced with ashlar stones. The respective edge length is 1.80 meters. The base of the tower is 0.95 meters high. At its base, the Bismarck Tower has a diameter of 5.82 meters.
Above the entrance door, the tower originally bore the lettering BISMARCKTHURM . Above this was a bronze relief showing Otto von Bismarck. The relief was created by Richard Anders from Berlin ; it was cast by the Martin and Piltzig Berlin foundry .
On the entrance side, the tower bears the Quedlinburg coat of arms . There are three windows on each side of the tower shaft.
Inside the tower, a spiral staircase leads over 83 steps to the viewing platform. On the platform there is a spire with a weather vane in the middle. The platform has a diameter of three meters and was provided with a cantilevered parapet.
literature
- Falko Grubitzsch in: Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments . Saxony-Anhalt. Volume 1: Ute Bednarz, Folkhard Cremer and others: Magdeburg administrative region. Revision. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich et al. 2002, ISBN 3-422-03069-7 , p. 763.
- State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Saxony-Anhalt (Ed.): List of monuments in Saxony-Anhalt. Volume 7: Falko Grubitzsch, with the participation of Alois Bursy, Mathias Köhler, Winfried Korf, Sabine Oszmer, Peter Seyfried and Mario Titze: Quedlinburg district. Volume 1: City of Quedlinburg. Fly head, Halle 1998, ISBN 3-910147-67-4 , p. 264.
Web links
- Information about the Bismarck Tower at www.bismarcktuerme.de
- Information about the tower at www.harzlife.de
- Website of the Johannishain
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jessica Hanack: Johannishain in Quedlinburg anger over the wilderness in the Süderstadt , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, September 26, 2016, mz-web.de, accessed on September 3, 2018.
Coordinates: 51 ° 46 ′ 54.4 " N , 11 ° 9 ′ 15.6" E
