La Tornallaz

Basic data

Place:

Avenches

Canton:

Vaud

Country:

Switzerland

Altitude :

485 m

Coordinates: 46 ° 53 '19.2 " N , 7 ° 3' 24.7" E ; CH1903: five hundred seventy thousand nine hundred and four / 193132

Use:

Observation tower

Accessibility:

Observation tower open to the public

Tower data

Building material :

Bricked up

Total height :

14.5 m

Viewing platform:

12 m

Position map

La Tornallaz

The La Tornallaz is an observation tower in the town of Avenches in the canton of Vaud .

Viewing platform
stairway

situation

The La Tornallaz tower is part of the former surrounding wall of the Roman town of Aventicum .

history

Tower 2 of the city wall, known under the name La Tornallaz, has been preserved thanks to its use as a watch and message tower, which probably dates back to the Middle Ages, and as such was maintained over a long period of time, rebuilt and extended several times. During restoration work at the beginning of the 20th century, the tower was given its current design with a wooden internal staircase that leads to the rebuilt adjacent curtain wall and to the viewing terrace on the tower.

In ancient times, the curtain wall was a circular room with narrow windows, from which one could get out through two doors to the curtain wall.

The current building reflects the medieval condition: It is higher and its wall on the side facing away from the city is straight. A movable outer ladder led to the high entrance gate.

The Roman masonry can be recognized by the deepened joints . The part, which was redesigned in the Middle Ages and later, was covered with a covering lime plaster, which imitates the medieval wall paint preserved in the region.

and display information about the image

360 ° panorama from La Tornallaz