Bismarck Tower (Stettin)

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Bismarck tower in Szczecin, with steep face climbers hanging on ropes during training (March 2011).

The Szczecin Bismarck Tower or Bismarck Tower of Stettin-Gotzlow , also called Bismarck Hall at the time of construction , is a monument to the founder of the empire Otto von Bismarck , which was built in the Gotzlow (Polish: Gocław ) district of Stettin , the capital of the province , in the first quarter of the 20th century Pomerania , was established. Stettin-Gotzlow is located north of the old town of Stettin on the left bank of the Oder . The Bismarck Tower stands there on a vineyard or hill called Juloberg on the Oder high bank, which is the highest elevation on the west bank of the Oder. There the tower can still be seen from afar. The Gotzlower Weinberg with the Bismarck Tower can be reached from Stettin main station by tram, which has its northern terminus there.

Before 1911, memorials in honor of Prince Otto von Bismarck were planned in Szczecin, but not yet realized. The construction of a monument in the shape of a Bismarck tower in Stettin was suggested as early as 1899, but an architectural competition was delayed because the location question remained unresolved for the time being. Stettin's mayor and the architect Bruno Schmitz , who was consulted as an expert , initially decided in favor of the Schlachterwiese as the location. Finally, the city council's proposal prevailed to erect the monument clearly visible on the vineyard.

After the founding of an 'Association for the Establishment of a Bismarck Monument eV' chaired by Governor Paul von Eisenhart-Rothe , an architecture competition was announced in 1910. Under the chairmanship of the Szczecin City Planning Council Wilhelm Meyer-Schwartau acted as judges u. a. renowned architects such as Paul Wallot , Friedrich von Thiersch and Martin Dülfer . They chose the design by the architect Wilhelm Kreis , who wanted to create a monumental memorial based on the style of the mausoleum of Theodoric the Great , which, in contrast to the tomb of the Ostrogoth king , should also function as a viewing tower . The building was built in concrete, the facades were clad with shell limestone . Half of the 200,000 mark building was financed by donations and the other half by a state grant of 100,000 marks approved by the provincial parliament.

The foundation stone was laid in 1913 as part of a celebration to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig . The inauguration of the monument was originally supposed to take place on the occasion of Bismarck's 100th birthday on April 1, 1915; however, the completion of the structure was delayed by the First World War . The Comet company was commissioned with the construction; the architect Wilhelm Kreis was the artistic director. The inauguration of the Bismarck Tower as a lookout tower took place on August 10, 1921.

On the outer wall of the tower was a 37-meter-long all-round inscription, which was taken from an address by Bismarck in 1870 and which read: We are walking with an iron step, grinding up what stands in the way of the creation of the German nation and its glory and power . As an industry conference to be held after the Second World War in Szczecin, 19,000 were zloty expended before this 37-meter-long German inscription chisel away at the tower and have plastered with cement. The eagles that once crowned the tower had already been knocked off. Today they lie half sunk in the ground in the area.

The Bismarck Tower in Szczecin, which is under monument protection and in need of renovation, was offered for sale on ebay in October 2012 for a total of € 320,000, together with an associated 8,500 m² plot of land . The tower was already offered for sale in 2011, but no buyer was found. In 2014 the tower will be offered for sale again, this time for 120,000 euros.

literature

  • Drews: The Bismarck monument in the province of Pomerania . In: Unser Pommerland 7 (1922) 4, pp. 105-107.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Wehrmann : The history of the city of Stettin. Stettin 1911 (reprinted unchanged: Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-8128-0033-0 ), p. 481.
  2. ↑ January Musekamp : between Szczecin and Szczecin. Metamorphoses of a city between 1945 and 2005. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06273-2 , pp. 139–140 ( limited preview )
  3. ^ Radio Szczecin, October 2, 2012
  4. ↑ http://www.ebay.de/itm/Bismarck-Turm-in-Stettin-Polen-Grundstuck-2000-m2-/171206564922?pt=Auslandsimmobilien&hash=item27dcb4dc3a

Coordinates: 53 ° 28 '37.7 "  N , 14 ° 36' 5.5"  E