Königsturm (Augsburg)

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The Königsturm in the bird's eye view plan from 1521. To the right of it is the Imhofhaus .

The Königsturm (also called St. Barbaraturm or incorrectly called Afraturm ) was a defense tower in downtown Augsburg . It was built around the middle of the 12th century in the Romanesque style on Hohen Weg (Litera D 84) next to the Royal Gate (also known as the Schwalbeneckor ). Until it was demolished in 1948, the Königsturm was the only surviving secular building in Augsburg from the time before wall bricks were used .

history

The construction time of the King's Tower cannot be precisely specified. From the results of the inventory carried out after the Second World War, it can be concluded that the tower was probably built around 1150 and originally served as a defensive tower. In the professional world, however, it is controversial whether the tower was also part of a royal palace . In the course of its existence the importance as a defensive tower was lost. This can be easily understood using old city maps. In Georg Seld's city ​​map from 1521 , the tower is initially depicted with a crenellated top. Later, as shown in Wolfgang Kilian's city ​​map from 1626, it had a tent roof. Over time, the tower was increasingly integrated into the surrounding buildings. Since he could no longer be seen from the street, he was forgotten.

Only when the surrounding buildings were destroyed by the air raids at the end of February 1944 was the Königsturm, which was last used as a staircase, exposed again. Due to the bombs and the generally poor building structure, the stability of the tower was no longer fully guaranteed. In 1945, part of the wall of the tower collapsed, probably due to the vibrations from the resuming road traffic. When the rubble clearance began in 1948 on the surrounding property, the tower foundation was exposed so unfavorably that the tower finally collapsed completely.

architecture

After the end of the war, the building was examined more closely. It was found that the tower had been rebuilt several times in the past. At the time of the inventory it had a floor space of around 7.7 m by 8.5 m and a height of around 21 m. The outer walls in the lower and middle part were 1.50 m thick and consisted of Roman limestone sheets on which paving stones the size of tufa limestone were placed. On the top floor, the outer walls were made of brick with a thickness of around 1.20 meters. There was no basement.

See also

literature

  • Günther Grünsteudel et al. (Ed.): Augsburger Stadtlexikon . 2nd Edition. Perlach-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-922769-28-4 , p. 569 .
  • Gabriele von Trauchburg: Houses and gardens of Augsburg patricians . Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2001, ISBN 3-422-06306-4 , pp. 72 .
  • Walter Groos: Contributions to the early history of Augsburg . 1973, p. 46 ff . ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
  • Walter Groos: Materials on Roman and Post-Roman Augsburg . 1978, p. 85 ff . ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Caspar Ehlers et al. (Ed.): The German royal palaces. Volume 5: Bavaria . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016, ISBN 978-3-647-36523-7 , pp. 18th ff .

Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 17.5 ″  N , 10 ° 53 ′ 50.1 ″  E