Great bulwark and witch tower (Büdingen)
The Great Bulwark (also called Dicker Turm ) is the strongest medieval tower in the city of Büdingen in Hesse. It is located on the northwest corner of the fortification. The Hexenturm (originally the prison tower , later also called the Teufelsthorn ) is connected to the large bulwark by casemates .
history
The Hexenturm was built in 1390 as a corner tower in the northwest of the city fortifications as part of the first walling of the "Neustadt". The great bulwark was built in the second half of the 15th century . It served to secure the flanks of the trenches of the defenses to the east and south of the Jerusalem gate and to protect the "deer trench" at its narrowest point. It is located at the most vulnerable place in the city on the "Gebück" on the mountain side of the Pfaffenwald, which explains its enormous size.
The gunshot marks visible in the tower are deceptive. In fact, these are not impacts, because the city was never taken by fighting. Rather, the holes are related to the transport of the sandstones during construction.
architecture
The bulwark has an outer diameter of 17 meters and an inner diameter of 8 meters. The wall thickness is on average four to four and a half meters. Almost 1,100 m³ of bricks were used to build the tower. There are 16 gun chambers on four floors consisting of wooden false ceilings. Fully armed, the city's defenses could have defied any attack at this point.
Monument protection
The entire complex of Büdingen's old town, which is surrounded by a 2.1 km long city wall, is subject to the protection of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict .
City map of the old town, location Bollwerk and Hexenturm
Bulwark and witch tower in the plan
Large bulwark and witch tower in section
Witches Tower and Great Bulwark
literature
- Elmar Brohl : Fortresses in Hessen. Published by the German Society for Fortress Research eV, Wesel, Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2013 (= German Fortresses 2), ISBN 978-3-7954-2534-0 , pp. 57-64.
- Hans-Velten Heuson: Büdingen - yesterday and today. Works on the history of the city and its surroundings (1300–1945) . Edited by Volkmar Stein. Municipality of Büdingen, Büdingen 2004
Web links
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Hrsg.): Fortifications In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 ′ 36 ″ N , 9 ° 6 ′ 51 ″ E