Bismarck Tower (Weißenfels)

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Weißenfelser Bismarck Tower
View from the Bismarck Tower
View of the Bismarck Tower from Otto-Böhme-Weg

The Bismarck Tower in Weißenfels is located in the Klemmbergpark Weißenfels above the Weißenfels city center and is one of 146 Bismarck towers still existing in Germany . The Bismarck Tower Committee for the construction of the tower was founded under the chairmanship of the Weissenfels mayor Wadehn and the lawyer Junge. It was decided to build the tower on the Klemmberg . The foundation stone of the monument was laid on April 1, 1906, and the inauguration took place in the presence of 12,000 Weissenfels residents on August 25, 1907.

Overall, the construction costs of the 21 m (according to other sources 19 m) high Bismarck Tower amounted to the then enormous sum of 21,800 marks . Originally only a Bismarck column was to be built, as the city administration's funds were insufficient. However, through a voluntary donation campaign supported by large parts of the Weißenfels citizenship, the necessary funds for a tower could be obtained.

After the German Democratic Republic was founded in 1949, the Bismarck relief and the four eagles were removed and the tower was named after the theologian, mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). It was open to visitors until the early 1980s, but was then closed due to damage to the staircase.

After the reunification, the tower got its name back. Responsible for the gradual renovation between 2006 and 2015 was the non-profit Weißenfelser Bismarck Tower Association, founded on October 26, 2005. The city of Weißenfels, major sponsors and citizens of Weißenfels supported the renovation of the monument. In the course of the renovation in 2007, for the 100th anniversary of the tower, the tower dome was completed and the tower was accessible again. The four eagles removed during the GDR era came back to the tower in pairs in May 2010 and June 2012.

The tower is open from April to October on the 2nd and last Sunday of the month from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and offers a view of Weißenfels and the Saale valley.

See also

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. Sponsors & supporters of the renovation of the Weißenfelser Bismarck tower since 2015
  2. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung : Eagles soar on the Bismarck Tower , June 8, 2012

Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 18.8 "  N , 11 ° 58 ′ 53.4"  E