Bismarck Tower (Vlotho)

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Bismarck tower Vlotho around 1910

The Bismarck Tower in Vlotho was a memorial tower built between 1902 and 1903 in the East Westphalian town of Vlotho on the Amtshausberg , the southeastern area of ​​the Ebenöde . The tower built on the site of the Vlotho castle ruins was demolished in 1939.

history

The initiator for the construction of the Vlothoer Bismarck tower was the businessman L. Wehrmann (Jr.). A Bismarck tower committee founded in 1898 collected donations for the construction of the tower. The remaining costs were taken over by the city of Vlotho. The Vlotho castle ruins on the Amtshausberg were selected as the tower location and the foundation stone was laid on December 20, 1902.

The master builder Wilhelm Krieger was responsible for the design and construction of the Vlothoer Bismarck tower. Bricks and Weser quarry stones from quarries in the area were used as building material. The tower was inaugurated on September 10, 1903.

The tower had a square floor plan with a height of about 18 m. The Bismarck Tower stood on a terrace framed with tuff and was divided into three elements, each about six meters high. A bronze image of Bismarck by the Berlin sculptor Arnold Künne and the inscription "Bismarck" were placed on the middle tower height . A crown was also attached to the tower above the relief of Bismarck.

In 1936 the Herford district took over the Ebenöde. Extensive archaeological excavation work began on the site of the Vlotho castle ruins. During these excavations, the tower was demolished in 1939. The bronze relief of the tower has been preserved and is owned by the Vlotho Heimatverein.

See also

literature

  • Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of the Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-019-4 .
  • Max Ehrhard: Bismarck in the national and international memorial. The Bismarck Tower on the Amtshausberg (medieval castle ruins) near Vlotho ad Weser. Thuringian publishing company Eisenach-Leipzig, 1903.
  • Thomas Gräfe: Promotion of tourism or nationalistic places of worship? The Bismarck Towers in Vlotho and Porta Westfalica 1902-1952 , in: Historisches Jahrbuch für den Kreis Herford 26 (2019), pp. 212–237.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erich Hartmann: Vlotho, the Weser gate of the Widukind circle. In: The Ravensberger Heimatkalender 1941. Printing and publishing v. JD Küster Nachf., Bielefeld, 16th year, p. 42 ff., 1941.

Coordinates: 52 ° 10 ′ 17 ″  N , 8 ° 51 ′ 33 ″  E