Luitpold Tower
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Luitpold Tower
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| Basic data | ||||
| Country: | Rhineland-Palatinate | |||
| Country: | Germany | |||
| Altitude : | 610 m above sea level NHN | |||
| Coordinates: 49 ° 15 '9.4 " N , 7 ° 49' 32.3" E | ||||
| Use: | Observation tower | |||
| Owner : | Palatinate Forest Association | |||
| Tower data | ||||
| Construction time : | 1909 | |||
| Position map | ||||
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The Luitpold Tower (also called Luitpold Tower ) near Merzalben in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Südwestpfalz is a 34.6 m high observation tower that was inaugurated in 1909 and is about 610 m above sea level. NHN high Weißenberg , one of the highest mountains in the Palatinate Forest . It was built using a red sandstone construction.
Geographical location
The Luitpold Tower is located in the middle of the Palatinate Forest in the Palatinate Forest Nature Park . It is located in the municipality of Merzalben, about 7 km west-southwest and 1.3 km north-northwest of the hamlet Hermersbergerhof , which belongs to the neighboring municipality of Wilgartswiesen, on the summit region of the Weißenberg (approx. 610 m ).
History and construction
The idea to build the tower was born on May 29, 1895 at the general assembly of the "Graefensteiner Beautification Association", which was founded in 1893 by the forest assessor August Zwissler from Leimen . It was decided to build a lookout tower on the Weißenberg, for the construction of which 8,000 to 10,000 marks were estimated. The necessary funds were to be raised by the association member Martin Jäger, a local poet also known under the pseudonym Fritz Claus . Thanks to his advocacy of the tower, he was able to win the Palatinate Forest Association (PWV), founded in Ludwigshafen in 1902, for his cause. The management of the PWV took over the coordination of the project, had the plans drawn up by the architect Ludwig Ullmann and collected the necessary funds mainly from membership fees. The name was suggested by Karl Albrecht von Ritter , then chairman of the PWV; It was named after Prince Luitpold of Bavaria . Construction of the tower began on July 19, 1908, and was inaugurated on September 26, 1909. The cost was around 23,000 marks, which, based on the base year 2000, corresponds to a sum of around 256,000 euros. The payment of this amount could already be completed in 1911 by the Palatinate Forest Association.
Design (architecture)
The square Luitpold Tower, built from hewn sandstone , consists of an outside staircase, the actual observation tower and an extension. The structure is a total of 34.6 meters (m) high, with the viewing platform 28.5 m above the ground and a stair tower with a door and a sheet metal roof on top.
After negotiating the outside staircase , you enter a stairwell , which is well lit by several window openings , and after 164 steps you reach the viewing platform . Halfway up there is a small bay window with a bench that can be used to rest. The upper area of the tower is occupied by a spacious room, in the axis of which a relatively narrow, metal spiral staircase leads upwards. You exit the stair tower through a metal door and finally enter the viewing platform, which is surrounded by a waist-high sandstone parapet with four observation niches. A total of 12 plaques have been affixed to this parapet at regular intervals since 2002, on which concise targets in the near and far vicinity of the tower are recorded with details of the distance.
At the foot of the tower there is an annex, which is intended as a resting place and protection in bad weather. It contains a stone table and benches, as well as a fireplace and a memorial plaque on which the essential data of the tower and its construction history are documented.
Renovation and maintenance
The building has been a listed building since 1993 and was restored between 1999 and 2003. The statics of the tower had to be improved and a reinforced concrete ceiling had to be installed in the viewing platform . There was also no way around a reconstruction of the iron spiral staircase and a renewal of the roof. The total cost was 230,000 euros, which almost comes close to the amount that was originally needed to build the tower. After the renovation work was completed, the tower was opened to the public in a ceremony on August 28, 2003.
For the long-term maintenance of the tower, the Luitpold Tower Association was set up in 2007, which has set itself the goal of "maintaining the structural condition of the tower and, if necessary, improving it", "ensuring free access to the tower at all times as well as an unobstructed view for everyone" and "the To keep the public's appreciation of the tower and its far-sighted experience alive. "
Transport links and viewing opportunities
East past the Weißenberg runs between the state road 496, which leads from the federal road 48 past the Mosisberg to Leimen , in north-south direction a narrow forest road to the district road 56 running from the federal road 10 near Wilgartswiesen to Hermersbergerhof m north-northeast of the tower, next to a 550.7 m high street, the hikers' car park at Am Holländerklotz and about 440 m (as the crow flies ) to the south at Luitpoldstein (approx. 562 m ). Beginning at these parking lots, the tower can be reached after a few minutes on foot on marked forest paths ( PWV marking "blue cross" and the trail logo of the Palatinate Forest Path ), and from Hermersbergerhof this is a 10 to 20 minute walk.
In good visibility conditions, 457 known destinations in the Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg , Alsace and Saarland can be identified from the observation platform of the tower , whereby the 12 target plaques attached to the platform can facilitate orientation. You can then see, for example (distance as the crow flies ; chance of visibility in % ): Donnersberg (42 km; approx. 42%), Kalmit (20 km; approx. 82%), Donon (96 km; approx. 8%) and Hornisgrinde (77 km; approx. 14%).
View over Hermersbergerhof to the east
literature
- Winfried Lang: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama . Plöger, Annweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-89857-254-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Luitpold Tower memorial plaque on the Weißenberg , on commons.wikimedia.org
- ↑ Topographic map of Bavaria, M = 1: 25,000. Sheet Merzalben, photo taken in 1912. See also discussion: Luitpoldturm # Höhe
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, pp. 71-82
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, p. 82: Lang has extrapolated the current construction value (base year 2000) of the building to 256,000 euros using a specific construction cost index. He referred to Rolf Brachmann / Peter Holzner / Franz Wilhelm Ross: Determination of the construction value of buildings and the market value of land. 28th edition Oppermann Verlag, Hannover 1997
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, p. 82
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, p. 84
- ↑ Luitpold Tower Association e. V .: Articles of Association . Retrieved January 27, 2016
- ↑ a b Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, pp. 108–121
- ↑ Winfried Lang: Outstanding in the Palatinate Forest: The Luitpold Tower and its panorama. Plöger, Annweiler 2009, pp. 84-85
