Lucas Cranach Tower
The Lucas-Cranach-Turm is a 22-meter-high observation tower of the Franconian Forest Association near the Upper Franconian district town of Kronach . It is named after the German painter and graphic artist Lucas Cranach (around 1472–1553), who was born in Kronach. The tower's viewing platform is 18 meters above the ground and can be reached via a spiral staircase with 88 steps.
location
The Lucas-Cranach-Turm stands on the boundary of the Weißenbrunn district of Thonberg about three kilometers south of the Kronach core city and about 1.5 kilometers east of the Kronach district of Neuses on the 494 meter high Kaltbucher Höhe. The two hiking trails Burgenweg and Frankenweg lead past him.
It is via the Burgenweg
- Coming from the north approx. 3 km from Kronach,
- Coming from the southeast approx. 3 km from Weißenbrunn.
Coming from the south-west, the tower can be reached from Bundesstraße 85 after about 1.5 km on unmarked paths.
From the Kronach-Mostrach road, flat forest paths for about 1 km lead to the Lucas-Cranach tower (past the television tower).
view
In the west the view extends to the Banz monastery and the Eierberge near Bad Staffelstein , in the south over Kulmbach to the Kordigast and the Staffelberg , in the east over the Radspitze to the Schneeberg and Ochsenkopf in the Fichtelgebirge , in the north the Rosenberg fortress rises behind the 758 m high Schneidberg and in good visibility the whetstone can be seen.
history
At the beginning of the 1880s, a pile of stones served as a lookout point at the location of the Lucas Cranach Tower. A simple, twelve-meter-high wooden tower followed in 1884, but it was destroyed in a storm shortly after its construction. The construction of today's observation tower goes back to a large extent on the initiative of the Kronach branch of the Franconian Forest Association founded in 1911. The work was carried out by master builder Franz Haun, who also designed the tower. The comparatively low construction costs of 4,000 marks were partly covered by donations from the population. The completion of the Lucas Cranach Tower took place after three months of construction on August 23, 1913, and was officially inaugurated on September 22, 1913.
In 1983 the tower had to be closed due to damage caused by the weather and vandalism . After extensive renovation of the tower head, for which funds amounting to 72,000 DM had to be spent, it was reopened on September 14, 1986. Further renovation work followed in 2006 after damage to the roof and lightning protection of the structure had occurred in previous years. In the course of this work, orientation boards were also attached to the parapet of the viewing platform. The tower was rededicated on September 17, 2006.
The Rosenberg fortress by Lucas Cranach tower
View of brick earth and Gehülz (in the background)
View of the Kronach television tower
literature
- Julia Knauer: It's Kronacher Warte's birthday. In: Neue Presse Coburg , local edition Kronach, June 21, 2013, p. 13.
- Regine Bellazrak: pioneering work at lofty heights. In: Neue Presse Coburg , local edition Kronach, June 24, 2013, p. 9.
Web links
- The Lucas Cranach Tower. Weißenbrunn community, accessed on June 22, 2013 .
- Lucas Cranach Tower. Frankenwaldverein , accessed on May 28, 2019 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 44 " N , 11 ° 19 ′ 36" E