Bismarck Tower (Salzgitter)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bismarck Tower Salzgitter (2010)

The Bismarck Tower in Salzgitter is a lookout tower completed in 1900, which stands at a height of 272 meters about 200 m south of the summit of the 275.3 m high Hamberg in Salzgitter-Bad . There is an excursion restaurant next to the tower. The initiative to build the tower came from the Salzgitterchen branch of the Harz Club in April 1899.

The tower consists of a 5 m high stone base and a 12 m high iron frame. The observation tower built in honor of the former Chancellor Bismarck leads to the first platform, which forms the roof of the base, via 24 stone steps . The top of four platforms in the steel frame can be reached from there via 56 iron steps. The tower is one of three Bismarck towers in Germany that are made of an iron structure.

The construction of the Bismarck tower in Salzgitter was decided on May 8, 1899 by the Harz Club. Already on May 3, 1899, before the decision to build the tower, the Hamberg was set as the location and the building site was acquired by the grid forest cooperative . The foundation stone was laid on September 10, 1899. The construction work was carried out by Hönerbach / Salzgitter and the machine and steel construction company Weule / Alt Wallmoden . Since the building permit was only granted on January 12, 1900, the completion of the tower was delayed until August 12, 1900. On July 21, 1900, it was decided to establish a Bismarck Museum. For this purpose, a 2 meter high and approx. 700 kg heavy trophy with a picture of Bismarck was set up in the entrance area, which stood here until 1965. The tower was renovated in 1990 and 2002.

Homecoming cross

From the “Association of Homecoming e. V., Local Association Salzgitter-Bad ”, a wooden cross was erected on the Bismarck Tower in 1950, which was to symbolically point the way with incandescent lamps for those returning from prisoner-of-war camps from November to January . The cross was renewed several times. In its current form [as of March 2012] it is a metal construction on the south side of the tower. The lighting, which can be seen from afar, has been used since 1965 by fluorescent lamps , which were replaced by LED technology in spring 2014 . Since the end of 2003, after the dissolution of the local homecoming association, a special association has been maintaining the light cross, which is also known as the "homecoming cross".

Memorial plaques and a granite cross on the base of the tower warn: "Against all wars".

Notes, individual references

  1. ↑ On September 6, 1899, the Salzgitter branch decided to leave the Harz Club and to found its own association, the Harz Association of the Soolbades Salzgitter / Harz . This Harzverein subsequently led the construction of the Bismarck Tower. Nothing is known about the further history of this Harz Club , but today (2012) there is again a Salzgitter branch in the Harz Club .
  2. ^ Report in the Salzgitter-Zeitung from May 31, 2014

literature

  • Fred Rosenberger: The construction of the “Bismarck Tower” in Salzgitter (1898–1900) . In: Geschichtsverein Salzgitter eV (Ed.): Salzgitter Yearbook 1988, Volume 10 . Salzgitter 1988, p. 153-158 .

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 3 ′ 42 ″  N , 10 ° 21 ′ 28 ″  E