Bismarck Tower (Giessen)

Bismarck Tower Giessen (2008)

The Bismarck Tower in Gießen is a 15 meter high Bismarck monument . It is located on the Hardt-Höhe near the Upper Hardthof . The architect was the university building officer A. Becker. The tower , which cost around 12,000 marks, was built from July 1905 to July 1906 from local lung stone . Above the entrance is the inscription BISMARCK , above it an eagle relief by the sculptor Augusto Varnesi, who was then teaching at the Technical University of Darmstadt . On the inside of the entrance pedestal is a carved inscription:


ERECTED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GIESSEN 1905–1906		Relief with eagle and BISMARCK lettering

In 1954 the tower was renovated. A viewing platform with an octagonal fire pan with a diameter of 1.90 m was accessible until 1975, before the entrance had to be bricked up due to the poor condition of the tower. A development association has been committed to maintaining and renewed renovation of the building since 2007. The entrance was cleared again in 2011, the renovated tower was reopened in 2014. The tower can be climbed on the first and third Sunday of each month. In mid-2020 - presumably in the course of the Black Lives Matter debate - there were smears of paint on the front of the tower.

Individual evidence

↑ Holger Sauer: For a view of the wide open country. Bismarck tower open from August after more than 40 years. In: Gießener Anzeiger. June 21, 2014, archived from the original on May 29, 2015 ; accessed on August 27, 2019 .
↑ Karen Werner: Bismarck Tower in Giessen opens again. In: Gießener Allgemeine. June 6, 2020, archived from the original ; accessed on June 9, 2020 .
↑ Burkhard Möller: Bismarck Tower in Gießen "politically" smeared - connection with further action? In: Gießener Allgemeine. July 23, 2020, accessed August 3, 2020 .

Web links

Commons : Bismarck Tower - Collection of images, videos and audio files

State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Hrsg.): Bismarck Tower In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Förderverein Bismarck Tower Gießen: bismarckturm-giessen.de
The Gießener Bismarck Tower on bismarcktuerme.de

50.596263 8.648043Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 46.5 ″ N , 8 ° 38 ′ 53 ″ E

[1] Holger Sauer: For a view of the wide open country. Bismarck tower open from August after more than 40 years. In: Gießener Anzeiger. June 21, 2014, archived from the original on May 29, 2015 ; accessed on August 27, 2019 .

[2] Karen Werner: Bismarck Tower in Giessen opens again. In: Gießener Allgemeine. June 6, 2020, archived from the original ; accessed on June 9, 2020 .

[3] Burkhard Möller: Bismarck Tower in Gießen "politically" smeared - connection with further action? In: Gießener Allgemeine. July 23, 2020, accessed August 3, 2020 .