Diana (observation tower)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hunting lodge and observation tower (1930)
View over the old and new meadow to the observation tower (1930)

Diana is a 1912/14 erected observation tower on the 562 m high friendship height ( Výšina přátelství ), directly above the center of Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) in the Czech Republic .

From 1926 the tower was named Dr. Kundlich-Warte after the peasant liberator Hans Kudlich and was renamed to Beneš rozhledna (Beneš lookout tower) immediately after the end of the Second World War . But the name Diana , which is still in use today, soon became established after the goddess of the hunt.

Technical specifications

  • Total height: 40 m
  • Height of the viewing platform: 35 m
  • Number of steps to the platform: 150
  • The tower is open to the public at certain times.

history

Lookout tower (1930)
Diana observation tower (2014)

In 1804 the cutler Wenzel Drumm began the beautiful view of the High Friendship in the immediate vicinity of Karlsbad. to market for tourism purposes. Together with his uncle August Leopold Stöhr, he laid out a marked hiking trail to the hill and set up some benches along the way to relax and linger. However, this path was relatively steep, so that the idea of ​​building a funicular soon matured.

The Diana funicular opened on August 5, 1908. Your valley station is located on the Alte Wiese at an altitude of 389  m . The railway overcomes the 167 m difference in altitude over a distance of 437 m. The intermediate station is located in the area of ​​the Hirschensprung siding at a height of 473  m . The maximum gradient is 432.3 ‰.

As more and more guests came to Friendship Heights via the train, the decision to build a brick observation tower with a covered wooden walkway was quickly made. This was built together with an excursion restaurant in the form of a hunting lodge from 1912 to 1914 and was carried out by the construction company František Fousek according to the construction plans of the architect Anton Breinl from Karlovy Vary. The solemn inauguration of the tower, in which there was also an electric elevator, took place on May 27, 1914 with lively public participation.

The Diana observation tower is a national monument.

view

View to the Friendship Heights (1939)
View of the spa district of Karlovy Vary

The roofed viewing platform of the tower offers one of the best views of the city center of Karlovy Vary and the Goethova vyhlídka (Goethe's view) behind it , to the north of the ridge of the western Ore Mountains with the Keilberg , to the west of the Falkenau basin and beyond South to the Duppau Mountains .

literature

  • Anton Gnirs : Topography of the historical and art-historical monuments in the Karlsbad district. (Prague 1933) (= Handbook of Sudeten German Cultural History. Vol. 8). Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-486-56170-7 .

Web links

Commons : Diana (observation tower)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Gnirs: Topography of the historical and art historical monuments in the district of Karlsbad. Munich 1996.

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 8.4 ″  N , 12 ° 52 ′ 20.6 ″  E