Luisenturm (Koblenz)
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The Luisenturm is a tower of the former Prussian city fortifications of Ehrenbreitstein , which is now a district of Koblenz . It was built according to plans by Karl August von Cohausen in 1856 on the steep slope of the Asterstein and was part of the Niederehrenbreitstein system of the Koblenz fortress, which was built at the beginning of the 19th century . The tower was named after the Prussian princess Luise .
history
In the course of the expansion of the Ehrenbreitstein city fortifications , Karl August von Cohausen planned an octagonal tower with battlements in the section between Asterstein and Pfaffendorfer Tor in 1855 for aesthetic reasons . After a tower at this point had been rejected several times by the War Ministry as unnecessary, von Cohausen finally succeeded in obtaining a building permit from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV through the connection with Princess Luise . The construction of the building was completed in 1856, the interior work followed in 1857. With the installation of a cast iron spiral staircase from a Frankfurt art foundry inside the tower, the expansion came to an end. It was named in honor of Princess Luise, in memory of her engagement to the Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden in 1856.
After the city fortifications were abandoned in 1890, the city of Ehrenbreitstein bought the tower in order to sell it on. It was not until 1908 that she was finally able to sell the property including the Luisenturm to the really secret war councilor Joseph Dornbach. His son, the painter Hans Dornbach , added two wings to the tower to the south and east in 1920. With the conversion to a residential building and studio , the cast iron staircase was moved to the outside. During an air raid on Koblenz in 1944, the tower and studio burned out, and 170 paintings by the artist were destroyed. The reconstruction took place 1945–1947, while the tower free floor received a tent roof over the battlements. Around 1980 a small extension was built on the south wing. The last renovation took place in 1985–1987.
construction
The Luisenturm is an octagonal four-storey building made of quarry stone . The architectural structure consists of black basalt . The windows are round-arched , and on the third floor they are biforic windows with basalt columns and basalt pillars . On the second floor there is a cantilevered balcony on the Rhine side . The top floor with corner battlements has small round arches and is slightly cantilevered. Windows were installed here by putting on the tent roof. A Prussian eagle is mounted between the second and third floors on the Rhine side . On the opposite side, the second floor is accessed by an attached polygonal stair tower with a cast-iron spiral staircase in a neo-Gothic shape. Inside the house, on the outer tower wall, there is a keystone showing Our Lady with the child. It comes from the Dominican church that was destroyed in World War II .
Parts of the crenellated town wall of Ehrenbreitstein have been preserved on the property . In the garden there are baroque fountain basins, rocaille vases , volute cheeks and a lion relief, which presumably come from the gardens of Philippsburg Palace , which was destroyed in 1801 .
To commemorate the engagement of Grand Duke Friedrich I with Luise, a memorial plaque is walled in on the tower :
- “ I am called the Luisenthurm / Because I rose before your eyes / And stretch the tape of memories / When you moved to the neighboring country / God bless you and your relatives. AD MDCCCLVI. "
Monument protection
The Luisenturm is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein at Kolonnenweg 6 . The property is privately owned and is therefore not open to the public.
The Luisenturm has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .
literature
- Matthias Kellermann: The Prussian fortress Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein. On the history of the fortifications on the right bank of the Rhine , Koblenz 2011, ISBN 978-3-934795-63-1 .
- The painter Hans Dornbach. 70th birthday memorial book, Koblenz 1955 (1st publication by the Koblenzer Kunstverein).
- Ulrike Weber (edit.): City of Koblenz. City districts (= monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Vol. 3, 3). Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 '25.7 " N , 7 ° 36" 44.4 " E