Cobenturm (Bitburg)

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Facade of the former Cobenturm
The chimney from the Cobenturm from 1576 is now in Bitburg Town Hall
An angel playing music as a vault beginner in the Cobenturm

The Cobenturm was a residential tower from the 16th century and one of the most important monuments in Bitburg's history. It was badly damaged in the Second World War and, due to its dilapidation, was torn down in 1947, whereby a small part could be preserved. A documentation of the tower before the demolition was not carried out at that time.

Architectural parts of the interior and the facade reliefs are now in the district museum Bitburg-Prüm , in the town hall of Bitburg and in the entrance area of ​​the town hall / Bitburger brand adventure world.

history

In the course of the medieval city fortifications of 1340, the city was expanded. This brought the eastern tower (Cobenturm) into the city center; he lost his protective function. It was built into a magnificent Renaissance residential tower. The so-called Cobenturm (Hauptstrasse 43 Lage ) was a medieval wall tower that was used as a residential building. Originally, the associated courtyard with the rear buildings was called the Cobenhof.

Roland Hillen has proven that the bourgeois Johann Schweisdal was the builder of the Cobenturm and not the noble Coben family, which is important for Bitburg and has only the name in common with the tower. Johann Schweisdal was a lay judge and judge (mayor of the city) for many years. In 1578 Schweisdal was enfeoffed in the name of the king with a tower - probably the Cobenturm - and the sovereign stove money in Bitburg. The fireplace from 1776, still preserved today, with the coat of arms of the Geisen family can be seen in the town hall today. The decorative facade in the Renaissance style also contains the frieze of the year of construction 1576 and the initials IS, which, according to Hillen, should refer to Johann Schweisdal, as well as the letters “WGWIMZ” with the possible meaning “What God wants is my goal”.

architecture

The semicircular projecting tower, circular in plan, had two floors and was later flat covered. The basement was modern, the upper floor a comfortable living room, the top floor just a cavity. The exterior was not stone-sighted, but simply plastered. Before the demolition in 1947, some elements of the original decoration were retained, for example: two large, richly decorated pilaster windows on the upper floor and a wide frieze under the main cornice and the fireplace. The window architecture in gray and red sandstone was covered with Mauresques , the pilaster and gable architecture was kept flat. The lion masks under the windows were visible as loopholes and peepholes. In the high frieze of the main cornice a triglyph - metope architecture was visible: on the sides threatening masks, in the middle a date plate from the year 1576 accompanied by wild men.

Inside, the tower on the first floor had a circular floor plan with a clear dimension of 5.15 m and a wall thickness of 1.18 m. The tower was estimated to be 7.5 m high. The room was furnished with a rich, six-part star vault. In the middle of the flat, rounded vault, numerous putti dance around a heavy rosette of leaves. The tall, narrow ridges, set with kyma and tendril waves as a stucco relief , forked for heavily busted stitch caps that ended on figurative consoles . Angel heads and angel figurines making music were in a supporting position at the ends of the arched structures. The splendid Renaissance fireplace from 1576 with high herm brackets was built at the same time . Geisen's coat of arms is on the wide frieze of the fireplace. Above it is a semicircle with figures lying on the sides, whose bodies run out in acanthus tendrils.

photos

  • Cobenturm floor plan

  • Facade Cobenturm

  • Cobenturm before 1900

  • Upper main street with Cobenturm

literature

  • Ernst Wackenroder (arr.): The art monuments of the Bitburg district (=  Paul Clemen [Hrsg.]: The art monuments of the Rhine province . Volume 12 / I ). Trier 1983, ISBN 3-88915-006-3 , p. 63–65 (315 p., With 12 plates and 227 figs. In the text. Reprinted by the Schwann edition, Düsseldorf 1927).
  • Kaufmann, Burkhard: The Bitburger Cobenturm . Bitburg 1991 (home calendar / district Bitburg-Prüm. Pages 130-135. - Ill. District administration Bitburg-Prüm).

Web links

Commons : Cobenturm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Trier district government, Kobenturm Bitburg file, 15 427-203.
  2. ↑ Roland Hillen, Bitburg from the end of the 5th to the end of the 18th century, in: Geschichte von Bitburg, series of publications: Ortschroniken des Trier Land, Volume II, Trier 1965, p. 187.
  3. ↑ a b Ernst Wackenroder: The art monuments of the Bitburg district. Düsseldorf 1927, p. 64.
  4. ↑ JF Schannat and G. Bärsch, Eiflia illustrata, Volume II, Section I, p. 133, Aachen and Leipzig, Verlag JU Mayer 1829.
  5. ↑ Google Books: Eiflia illustrata or geographical and historical description of the Eifel, Volume 2, page 133

Coordinates: 49 ° 58 ′ 27.9 ″  N , 6 ° 31 ′ 28.9 ″  E