Bismarck Tower (Sargenroth)
The Bismarck tower of Sargenroth in Hunsrück in Rhineland-Palatinate was in honor of the first German Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck built (1815-1898). The observation tower planned by the architect Wilhelm Kreis (1873–1955) is located on the outskirts of Sargenroth on a hill between the Simmerbachtal and the Soonwald . It is 17.5 meters high and was inaugurated in 1902.
history
Planning time
The construction of a Bismarck tower in the Hunsrück was planned since 1899 by a group of Bismarck supporters, which also included several mayors of the region and the district administrator of the then Simmern district , Gustav Adolf von Beckerath. On October 25, 1899, they formed an executive committee to take up concrete plans. The committee decided on December 18, 1899 to have the Götterdämmerung model designed by the architect Wilhelm Kreis built.
Kreis, who was born in Eltville in the Rheingau , won a German student union competition with his design that same year . According to an idea of the student body, a network of so-called pillars of fire should be set up throughout Germany in order to light large braziers on certain days in honor of Bismarck. The Bismarckian column from the Götterdämmerung model was built as a so-called type construction a total of 47 times in the German Empire until 1911 .
In addition to the building site ultimately selected, there were seven other suggestions for locations, of which only one near Kirchberg (Hunsrück) and the one near Sargenroth were shortlisted. Wilhelm Kreis visited these two locations and on March 12, 1900 announced his decision in favor of Sargenroth. It played a role, among other things, that the place was an old meeting and court place ( Thingstätte ) and it is near the historic Nunkirche .
The municipality of Sargenroth made the building site available free of charge. To finance the construction of the tower, the executive committee launched several calls for donations , sold postcards and held raffles . In addition, the construction of companies and private individuals was supported by numerous donations in kind.
construction time
The laying of the foundation stone was celebrated on June 24, 1900, and construction of the Bismarck Tower began. The construction work itself was not supervised by the architect Wilhelm Kreis, but by the Sargenroth master builder Peter Weirich. The main building material used was greywacke , which came from a quarry in the nearby Soonwald , as well as basalt , sandstone and slate from the region.
While the construction work had already begun, the executive committee decided to increase the originally planned tower height from twelve meters to 17.5 meters. Because the donations collected were initially insufficient for this, further construction came to a halt temporarily. By organizing a lottery , however, a further 6,000 gold marks were collected by October 1901 and the remaining costs were covered.
Thanks to the free construction site and the many donations in kind, the total costs for the tower were comparatively low at 13,300 gold marks. The construction work was completed in August 1902, and the Bismarck Tower in Sargenroth was inaugurated on August 31, 1902. On the evening of the same day a fire was lit for the first time on the tower's observation deck .
Further development
As early as 1901, the executive committee for the tower construction was transformed into the " Verein Hunsrücker Bismarck Tower ", which in future took over the sponsorship of the tower. As in the committee, the first chairman of the new association was Gustav Adolf von Beckerath, the district administrator of the then Simmern district.
The Bismarck Tower of Sargenroth survived the following decades largely unscathed. After the Second World War , the " Hunsrücker Bismarck Tower Association " was dissolved and the tower became the property of the Simmern district (since 1969 the Rhein-Hunsrück district ).
Probably also after the war, a Bismarck coat of arms painted on sheet metal on the south-west side of the tower with the inscription "Our Bismarck" was removed. A bronze plaque with the coat of arms of the city of Simmern and the inscription "Bismarck Tower, erected on August 31, 1902" was later placed there. In addition, after the National Socialist era , the tower was no longer used as a so-called fire pillar, but only as a lookout tower.
The district had the Bismarck tower completely renovated in 1975 and the following year offered the municipality of Sargenroth to take over the tower free of charge. The municipality refused this because of the expected maintenance costs, and the tower then became the property of the Simmern / Hunsrück municipality .
In the run-up to its centenary, a new staircase was installed in the tower and handrails were attached on both sides of the external stairs at the tower entrance. The hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of the Bismarck Tower was celebrated with a festival in August 2002. In addition, the municipality of Sargenroth published a commemorative publication on the history of the building for the anniversary.
Sargenroth's Bismarck Tower is open daily. The view is, however, severely restricted by the surrounding trees that were planted in 1902 and have now grown tall.
architecture
The Bismarck Tower in Sargenroth in the Hunsrück was built on a square floor plan. The tower itself is also square, but the massive effect is softened by three-quarter columns at the corners of the tower body. The walls are designed as a basement , which means that the stone blocks are only roughly carved (embossed) on their outside. The main building material used was greywacke , loosened up by individual layers of black slate. It was also basalt for the frame of the tower entrance and sandstone built for the steps of the substructure.
Podium and basement
The Bismarck Tower is divided into four parts: The lowest part is a two-meter high, two-part platform . The lower part of the platform has a square footprint of 12.4 by 12.4 meters and a height of a good one meter, the upper part is 7.8 by 7.8 meters and almost one meter high. On the northeast side , in the middle of the two platform levels, a fourteen-meter-wide staircase made of sandstone leads to the entrance of the tower.
On the pedestal stands the approximately two and a half meter high base of the tower, which has a floor area of 5.5 by 5.5 meters. On its northeast side is the tower entrance framed by a frame made of basalt, the door of which is set about one and a half meters into the tower base.
Tower body and upper floor
The actual tower, around ten meters high, rises above the basement. It is set back from the basement and rounded off at the corners by three-quarter columns. On three sides (except in the south-east ) are nearly two meters high, such loopholes looking wall openings mounted - in each case an opening in the lower region of the tower body and two adjacent the upper part. As a further decoration, a wide band of several layers of black slate can be seen all around in the middle of the tower body. In the upper part, a second, narrower band of slate runs through the otherwise gray brickwork.
Above the tower body follows the approximately three meter high upper floor, which consists of an architrave and a two-tier superstructure with the viewing platform. The upper floor is set back a little compared to the tower body and is also decorated with several narrow slate bands. The tower has a total height of 17.5 meters.
Staircase and lighting
Inside the Bismarck Tower, a 69-step wooden staircase originally enabled the ascent. In the run-up to the centenary of the tower, it was replaced by a steel staircase. It is a spiral staircase in the tower body with a total of 60 steps and four landings (each with 15 steps). On the upper floor there is a steel staircase that has ten steps and leads up to the viewing platform. The exit to the platform can be closed by a metal flap.
The firing of the tower, originally designed as a so-called fire pillar, was made possible by eight rectangular, removable fire boxes made of sheet iron. Two of the boxes were attached to the parapet on each side of the viewing platform . Sand soaked with petrol or kerosene was filled into the fire boxes and set on fire. After the Second World War, however, the tower was no longer used as a fire pillar, but only as a lookout tower.
See also
literature
- Günter Kloss, Sieglinde Seele: Bismarck Towers and Bismarck Columns. An inventory. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 1997, ISBN 3-932526-10-4 .
- Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of the Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-019-4 .
- Fritz Schellack, "100 Years of the Bismarck Tower in Sargenroth." Anniversary publication published by the local community Sargenroth, Argenthal 2002
Web links
- The Bismarck Tower from Sargenroth at bismarcktuerme.de.
- Information about the Bismarck tower in Sargenroth in the Hunsrück.
- The Bismarck Tower of Sargenroth in the directory of cultural monuments in the Rhein-Hunsrück district. (PDF; 1.6 MB)
Coordinates: 49 ° 56 ′ 14 " N , 7 ° 31 ′ 14.2" E