Block tower
Coordinates: 48 ° 37 ′ 31.3 " N , 9 ° 20 ′ 19.3" E
The block tower in Nürtingen was built between 1430 and 1435 from Nürtinger Rätsandstein. It consists of a tower and a battlement. The battlement also connects the two city walls and their battlements, which abut the block tower. The tower wall has an outer circumference of approx. 23 m and an inner circumference of 12.86 m. The diameter of the tower is 7.34 m, its height 16.90 m. On the ground floor there is an inaccessible dungeon with a domed vault. Above are two round tower rooms, the one on the first floor has a vault. An octagonal attic with an eight-sided tent roof is located above the tower rooms.
Nowadays the block tower is accessed via an entrance staircase. From the first to the second floor there is access via a battlement supported by stone arches. It has a total of five doors and five windows. The windows are probably from the 20th century, three of the doors are much older.
use
The tower was first referred to in the town book of 1568 as a compartment tower, later as a ground tower and was the southeast corner tower of the defensive wall. In the late Middle Ages it was used as a prison. From around 1920 to 1950 it served as an emergency apartment. Today the block tower is part of the historical city tour, it can only be visited as part of this tour.
The block tower as a defense tower
The stone defense towers in the city fortifications all served to strengthen security by facilitating the sighting of enemies and the defense of the city. Since the block tower was at the southeast corner of the city wall, it had a particularly important position. When the block tower was built between 1430 and 1435, cannons, crossbows , pikes, halberds and rarely short swords were used for fighting. The most important protective measures were the approximately 1.60 meter thick stone walls, which protected it from enemy attacks, its round construction was considered to be particularly stable. The tower has hook-box loops. In the south of the second floor, a special form of the loopholes can be seen in the block tower - the key loopholes. It was used for defense with a hand rifle. A circular opening for shooting is complemented by a vertical viewing slot. This is why this type of loopholes looks like an upside-down keyhole.
The block tower as a prison
In the late Middle Ages, the block tower served as a prison, hence the current block tower got its name. In it was the " block ", that is, a heavy device made of several beams for the prisoners. This block of wood had holes into which the prisoner had to stick his arms and legs. There was a rule that stipulated how long the prisoner had to be in the block for a specific offense. There is also said to have been a deep hole in the ground through which the criminals were lowered into the dungeon. For this you can still see a metal ring on the wall in the tower room on the first floor.
literature
- Jakob Kocher: History of the City of Nürtingen , Stuttgart 1924, Volume 1 p. 77
- Hans Schwenkel on behalf of the Nürtingen District Association: Heimatbuch des Kreises Nürtingen , Volume II, Konrad Triltsch Verlag, Würzburg 1953
Web links
- Website of the city of Nürtingen: Block tower , accessed on January 23, 2016