Felix Tower
The Felix tower is a 16 meter high tower on the Schafberg in the Hüttertal between Wallroda and Radeberg . It was built in 1824 by the Radeberg master mason Tüllmann for Baron Johann Wilhelm von Gutschmid. The name Felixturm refers to Gutschmid's son Felix, for whom he had the tower built as an observatory . The Felix Tower , built from weathered granodiorite , is a listed building .
history
Baron Johann Wilhelm von Gutschmid (1761–1830; in some traditions also Gutschmidt ) was the son of the Electoral Saxon Minister Christian Gotthelf von Gutschmid . This had come into the possession of the manor Kleinwolmsdorf through an inheritance . Johann Wilhelm von Gutschmid chose the Schafberg above the Hüttertal in the Wallroda district , which belongs to the manor property , to build the tower for his son Felix, who was born in 1815.
The Felix Tower was inaugurated as a private observatory in 1825 . Since the Hüttertal was primarily used as pastureland up to the end of the 19th century and therefore had large, tree-free areas, the tower could be seen from afar from the entire surrounding area, as has been handed down on contemporary images. The first mountain inn opened at the tower in 1839. The restaurant business continued until 1965.
From 1862 to 1890, a land survey was carried out in the Kingdom of Saxony to precisely record the national territory. For this purpose, the surveyors erected a 1.20 meter high observation post on the tower in 1865. This was included as a trigonometric point in the Royal Saxon triangulation network 2nd order .
From 1876 the Felix tower belonged to the property of the Vorwerk Heinrichsthal . At that time the Vorwerk owner was the Radeberg master builder Wilhelm Reinhard Würdig, and he had the tower repaired. After a few changes of ownership, in 1880 Hermann Alexander Zeis, husband of Agathe Zeis , the founder of the Heinrichsthal dairy (later Heinrichsthaler Milchwerke ) and producer of the first German Camembert , acquired the Vorwerk Heinrichsthal and thus also the associated Felix tower. There was already a restoration at the Felix Tower in 1885. Until the foreclosure auction of the farm with the dairy and all properties in April 1888, Zeis was the owner of the Felix Tower.
The new owner of the tower, Franz Schüller, expanded the restoration and added it to the newly built refuge next to the tower in 1888, which quickly developed into a popular excursion restaurant. In the following years the operators of the inn changed very often.
In the summer of 1918, lightning struck the tower, which then burned out completely. The building was rebuilt, but in 1930 the upper part had to be demolished due to the risk of collapse.
The Radeberg amateur astronomer Erich Bär was the owner of the Felix Tower from 1952 to 1956. Together with the astronomy department he founded in Hüttertal, he set up the first public observatory for Radeberg and the surrounding areas. It was also used for school lessons. The observatory at the Felix Tower remained in operation until the opening of the new building on the outskirts of Radeberg in June 1964.
The city of Radeberg bought the Felix Tower in 1960. A broken branch destroyed the roof and the premises of the restaurant in 1965. This was then given up and the building released for the extraction of building materials.
use
The Felix Tower has been privately owned since 1978 (initially leased from the city of Radeberg, bought in 2000). The owner rebuilt the tower head, renovated the indoor and outdoor areas and created a small garden. The tower was equipped with extensive, free-standing antenna systems (lattice mast) for amateur radio purposes.
Others
About 300 m west of the Felix Tower , the Schafbornbach rises in a right side valley of the Großer Röder , which runs along the hiking trail and flows into the Große Röder. The Radeberg senior teacher Adolf Kohlsdorf built a promenade leading to the Felix Tower in 1905 in the area of the source of the stream.
In the last days of the Second World War , infantry battles broke out at the Felix Tower and the nearby Taubenberg , in which the advancing Polish forces met Volkssturm and SS units .
The Radeberg Planetary Trail, which was built in 1994 and restored in 2006, ends at the Felix Tower , which begins at Klippenstein Castle and is around 2 km long. The sign on the tower showed the dwarf planet Pluto , which was still classified as a planet when the hiking trail was set up and thus represented the outermost planet in our solar system. After the reclassification of Pluto to a dwarf planet, this tablet was removed.
Web links
- Website of the Felix Tower with pictures
- Internet presence of the Förderverein Hüttertal Radeberg eV with the history of the Felix Tower
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of cultural monuments of the municipality of Arnsdorf , viewed on July 10, 2012
- ↑ Life data of Felix Theodor August von Gutschmid
- ^ Radeberger Zeitung of September 19, 1885. Radeberg City Archives
- ^ History of the public observatory "Erich Bär" in Radeberg. Retrieved August 2, 2019 .
- ^ Jörg Hennersdorf: Notes from the last days of the war. In: Large district town of Radeberg in cooperation with the urban history working group (ed.): Radeberger Blätter zur Stadtgeschichte. Volume 10, Radeberg 2012.
Coordinates: 51 ° 7 ′ 16.3 ″ N , 13 ° 57 ′ 0 ″ E