Bismarck Tower (Herford)
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The Bismarck Tower is a lookout tower built in 1906 east of the city of Herford on the Stuckenberg .
history
A lookout tower was supposed to be built at the same location in 1887, but this project was never realized. In 1904, the citizens of Herford started to build a tower again. After a call for donations in 1905, enough money was collected to specifically consider the construction. One aspect of the planning was that the Bismarck tower Porta Westfalica on the Jakobsberg in Porta Westfalica should be visible from the tower . The Minden forest administration made the property available. After an architectural competition , the design by Wilhelm Oldemeyer from Spenge was chosen .
The foundation stone was laid on April 1, 1906 . The construction business Althoff & Lakemeier built the tower with sandstone blocks from the Fricke quarry. The tower was officially opened on September 2, 1906.
The tower has a square floor plan and a three-tiered base and was built as a viewing tower with a fire bowl . This fire bowl had a diameter of 3.5 m and was originally fired with petroleum-soaked peat . The lighting should - as with the majority of all Bismarck towers - take place primarily on Otto von Bismarck's birthday , on the summer solstice or on national festivals and holidays.
The height of the tower is exactly 23.33 m. A roofed viewing platform can be reached via an internal staircase at a height of 18.02 m. From here an iron staircase leads to the upper viewing platform at a height of 22.06 m, which allows a wide view of Herford and the Ravensberger Land . The fire bowl was covered with a metal plate to make the upper platform easier to walk on.
In 1992 the tower was placed under monument protection.
After damage from vandalism , the tower was refurbished in 1993, but it was not initially opened to the public. In 1996 the Friends of Herford Bismarck Tower was formed. V. , who today opens the tower every first and third Sunday in the months from April to October after extensive security measures.
A refuge was also built on the tower from donations, which was inaugurated on June 16, 2002.
literature
- Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of the Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-019-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ named in the historical register of architects “archthek”, Oldemeyer spelling is described there as incorrect
- ↑ List of architectural monuments in the city of Herford (PDF file; 78 kB)
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 '13.4 " N , 8 ° 42' 58.8" E