Bremen powder towers

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Bremen's three powder towers were rebuilt between 1638 and 1647, the eastern one rebuilt in 1626

As Bremer powder towers were designated three large round towers in the late Middle Ages Bremen , where required in case of war powder supplies, weapons and ammunition were stored. In addition, prisoners were held on the ground floors of the powder towers and criminals were imprisoned and tortured, which is why the towers were often referred to as kennels.

Ostertorzwinger

The Ostertorzwinger (right) in 1810

The Ostertorzwinger, built between 1512 and 1514 according to the plans of the architect Jacob Bockes van Vollenhoff , stood at the eastern gate of the city on the fortified wall and was the smallest of the three towers. The building probably had a copper dome and loopholes for cannons.

On June 9, 1624, the stored explosives were ignited by a lightning strike, whereupon 80 tons of powder and 30 tons of saltpetre exploded and the tower was destroyed down to the foundation walls. 12 people died in the explosion, most of them prisoners from the kennel. In addition, about a dozen houses were damaged.

Two years later, the Ostertorzwinger was restored using stud frame technology and given a slate dome . From 1720 the tower was no longer used as a powder store, but the prison was retained. In 1826 the building was finally demolished. The detainees were transferred to other prisons.

Glory pen (bride)

Glory Zwinger (still without a hood) with surrounding bastion. Upper picture with a view of Stephanitorzwinger (left) and Neues Kornhaus (right), lower picture from the direction of the bridge gate over the Weser (still without Neustadt). Urbis Bremae typus et chronicon , 1602 (forerunner of the Dilich Chronicle )

The city's largest powder tower was built in 1522 on the Glory , a peninsula between the large and small Weser . This tower was also built according to plans by Jacob Bockes van Vollenhoff and used as a kennel on the ground floor. It had a crenellated platform on which guns could be placed. He was also surrounded by a bastion (Propugnaculum Pontis). In 1614 he was given a domed hood over the platform.

The glory kennel was huge: with a height of 55 meters, it was the third tallest building in the city behind the cathedral and the Ansgarii church . It also had a diameter of 30 meters and a wall thickness of four meters. In addition to powder and ammunition, storm wreaths and pitch wreaths , light and incendiary balls and hand grenades were stored in the “bride” . The people of Bremen affectionately called the Powder Tower “bride” because the city lay at the tower's feet like a bride.

But the “bride” suffered the same fate as the Ostertorzwinger. On September 22, 1739 at around 1:20 a.m., lightning struck the hood during a thunderstorm. The roof was torn up by a pillar of fire and the enormous detonation that followed shattered the meter-thick walls. Burning debris was hurled from the fireball and set fire to the buildings on the glory as well as several streets on the old town side of the Weser. The ensuing conflagration destroyed about a sixth of the city before a prolonged shower of rain put out the fires. For days after the accident, a thick cloud of smoke and sulfur fumes lay over the city. A total of 32 people were killed in the explosion, for example the excise master with his wife and five children. The fate of the glory kennel was processed in many poems.

The "bride" was not rebuilt. Nowadays, the Brautstrasse and the small bridal bridge still remind of the place where the kennel once stood.

Stephanitorzwinger ("groom")

Stephanitorzwinger (bottom left) 1589, in front of the Stephanibastion, Brema , town book, Braun / Hogenberg

The Stephanitorzwinger stood in the west of Bremen near the Stephanitores and was only excavated in 2012. It was built from 1525 to 1534 and thus had the longest construction phase of all Bremen powder towers. Half of the 40 meter high tower with its up to five meter thick octagonal walls that rested on a wooden frame was based in the Weser. In contrast to the other two kennels, it had a pointed, conical roof. Based on the “bride”, this powder tower was called the “groom”. Towards the Weser, the tower was partially clad with porta sandstone .

On August 4, 1647 at around 4 p.m. this kennel was destroyed by lightning when six tons of powder exploded. Many houses in the surrounding streets were partially badly damaged. Information about victims is not known. During construction work in today 's Überseestadt district , archaeologists uncovered the remains of the tower in the summer of 2012. Part of the excavation site is visible in a cellar room specially built for this purpose. Here, among other things, the force of the detonation can be seen in an approximately 5 cm wide crack in the massive foundation.

  • foundation

  • Exposed remains of the pile foundation in the interior

  • Stone cannon balls

  • Fragment of a stove tile, portrait of the French King Franz I.

References

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Bischop : 2012: Finally found the bridegroom , website of the State Archeology Bremen.

More black powder explosion accidents