Lenneberg Tower

The Lenneberg Tower near Budenheim

The Lennebergturm is an approx. 17 m high stone observation tower in the Lenneberg Forest between Mainz and Budenheim in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate . The tower designed by the Mainz architect Philipp Johann Berdellé was inaugurated in 1880 and is architecturally in the neo-Gothic style.

history

Already in 1820 was on the 176.8 m above sea level. NHN high Lenneberg in the Lennebergwald created a viewing platform that was named "Schöne Aussicht". In 1874, the Mainz painter and plasterer Adam Allendorf (1845–1924) founded a hiking and beautification association - the Lennebergverein . On the initiative of Allendorf and the association, the Lenneberg Tower was built on the "Schönen Aussicht" from 1878 and was inaugurated on September 26, 1880.

The tower survived the following decades almost unscathed. Recently, however, it was damaged by arson and graffiti , so that it had to be renovated. Therefore, the entrance to the Lenneberg Tower is normally closed, but is open on Sundays in the summer months . It can also be entered after registering with the current owner (the Wander- und Lennebergverein Rheingold Mainz e.V. ).

architecture

In keeping with the prevailing zeitgeist of historicism , the architect Philipp Johann Berdellé (1838–1903) planned the stone lookout tower in a neo-Gothic style. He combined a wider round tower and a narrower, but higher stair tower. The entrance to the tower is about 4.3 m high and leads into a 3 m high room, which is illuminated by three high pointed arch windows and is decorated in the middle with a floor mosaic. A wooden door on the right leads into the stair tower on a right-hand spiral staircase with 42 sandstone steps to the 12.8 m high viewing platform decorated with battlements . On the stair tower there is another platform, decorated with battlements, almost 16 m high, which can only be reached via a leaning ladder and is therefore not open to the public. The stone staircase to the tower entrance consists of 28 steps and has recently been secured with modern metal grilles and railings.