Meerhardtturm
The observation tower ruin Meerhardtfels , as the "official" name is, is a sight in Gummersbach - Dieringhausen in the North Rhine-Westphalian Oberbergische Kreis in Germany .
The tower, built in 1908 in the shape of an artificial ruin , rises on the Meerhardt hill ( 291 m above sea level ) and offers a view of Dieringhausen and the Aggertal .
The following data comes from the information magazine "Dieringhausen und Umgebung":
"The following emerges from a letter from the city of Gummersbach to the 'Herr Oberkreisdirektor' on February 2, 1987 (passages quoted literally in quotation marks): It was built by the Dieringhaus master mason Prinz for the non-profit association for Dieringhausen and the surrounding area in the neo-Gothic style from Grauwackebruchstein. Its design is 'in the tradition of the tower ruins of English landscape gardens of the 18th and early 19th centuries' and, like these, is linked to medieval tower ruins. While the English 'landscape gardens were primarily carriers of a romantic, sentimental mood', the Meerhardtturm 'creates an ideal connection between the medieval and the Second German Empire.' The Meerhardt tower is in the former Prussian Rhine Province, apart from a broken one in Bad Neuenahr, the only still verifiable observation tower in the form of a ruined tower. "
The idea to build the tower goes back to the textile manufacturer Karl Siebel, who wanted to build the tower above his factory. Orally it is passed down that he first commissioned his own company masons, who had to break the necessary stones on the spot due to the lack of their own access to the building site. In May 1906, property rights were handed over to the 'non-profit association Dieringhausen und Umgebung', with the condition that the building was prefabricated. The above mentioned master bricklayer Prinz received the order. From his invoice of August 21, 1908, construction costs of 1511.09 marks emerge. The Meerhardtturm has been on the monument list of the city of Gummersbach since 1976.
The observation tower can be reached by the shortest route via the so-called consumption staircase, which was built between 1913 and 1920 as a steep staircase with 64 steps and connects Dieringhauser Straße (B55) with Merhardtstraße. It was created when the railway line was relocated from today's B 55 to the slope.
In 2003, the observation tower was renovated by the city of Gummersbach, the non-profit association Dieringhausen and the Dieringhauser Bauverein with the support of Volksbank Oberberg.
Web links
- History of Dieringhausen and the Meerhardtturm , including a photo, on dieringhausen.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Dieringhausen and surroundings, summer 2008, commemorative publication by Berthold Höhler on p. 8/9. Publisher: MaPlaS, Berlinstr. 5, GM-Dieringhausen.
Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 17 " N , 7 ° 30 ′ 57.2" E