Bockenheimer Warte (watch tower)

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The Bockenheimer Warte, view from the east (2010)

The Bockenheimer Warte is one of the 15th century waiting towers of the Frankfurter Landwehr .

history

Watercolor of the Bockenheimer Warte around 1800

From 1434 to 1435 the Bockenheimer Warte was built to reinforce the Landwehr . It still exists today and impresses with its clear Gothic style. The Bockenheimer Warte is the landmark of Bockenheim , although it is - albeit just a little - in the Westend district .

The square of the same name forms the western end of the Bockenheimer Landstrasse . This is where the former cafeteria of the Bockenheim university campus , the Johann Christian Senckenberg university library and the Bockenheimer Depot , a former tram depot , now a theater venue, are located. One of Frankfurt's weekly markets takes place right at the foot of the Wartturm on Thursdays. The watch tower is not open to the public. An ice cream parlor and a kiosk are rounded off at the foot.

Immediately to the west of the tower ran until 1866 between the Free Imperial City or Free City of Frankfurt on the one hand and the city of Bockenheim on the other, which belonged to different states, most recently to the Electorate of Hesse . The task of the control room was to protect the trade route to Cologne ( Bockenheimer Landstrasse , Leipziger Strasse , then Frankfurter Strasse), which was leaving Frankfurt territory at this point , as a kind of border crossing point, as well as the early detection of approaching enemies. Of the former Landwehr installations, only the actual tower remains in this area. The associated defense yard as well as the trenches and fortifications have disappeared.

The Bockenheimer Warte is a cultural monument due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .

literature

Web links

Commons : Bockenheimer Warte  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 '12.4 "  N , 8 ° 39' 3.2"  E