Römerturm (Cologne)

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Roman tower, 2007

The Römerturm was the northwest corner tower of the city ​​wall of the Roman colony Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (today's Cologne ) from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Located at Zeughausstraße 13, it is the best preserved part of the Roman city fortifications. There were a total of 19 towers there.

Location and description

Roman north wall, remains of the Lysolph tower

What is striking about the Römerturm is its rich ornamental decoration with the help of different stones. White limestone, red sandstone, gray trachyte and dark greywacke were used . It is also noticeable that the mosaic-like facing in the lower part of the tower differs from that in the upper part. The lower part extends to a height of 4.5 meters above the ground, the upper part is another 1.25 meters high. The upper zone evidently emerged only after it was destroyed. A crenellated crown completes the tower.

Cologne's Römerturm is located in the city center, approx. 200 meters from the Appellhofplatz underground station and approx. 500 meters from the cathedral .

Building history

The tower was used from the 14th century as a waste place of the Poor Clare Monastery of St. Klara . Converted into a multi-storey house in 1833, it became the property of the city in 1874. The extensions were removed again, but when the neo-Gothic building (architect: Carl Moritz ; seat of the cathedral building administration from 1904 to 1948) was built in 1898/1899 , the uppermost zone was supplemented with the visible battlements. Today the tower , which has been a listed building since 1980, is privately owned again.

Tower in March 2020 with fuses
Roman tower Cologne with fuses-5618.jpg
Safety net with weights
Roman tower Cologne with fuses-5621.jpg
Counterweights


At the beginning of 2020, investigations found that a kind of bubble had formed between the wall shell and the core masonry on the north side of the tower. With the help of tension ropes, net covering, weights and counterweights, the wall shell is secured until it can be renovated.

Helenenturm

Further remains of Roman towers

  • About 100 m further south are the ruins of the Helenenturm, another, albeit unadorned, tower of the Roman city fortifications on the street of the same name ( coordinates ).
  • The Lysolph Tower near St. Maria ad Ortum .
  • The Ubier Monument or "Port Tower", which goes back to the Oppidum Ubiorum .

literature

  • Werner Schäfke (Ed.): Am Römerturm. Two millennia of a Cologne district. Publications of the Cologne City Museum. Volume 7, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-927396-99-0
  • Werner Schäfke: Cologne's Romanesque churches. Cologne 1984. (DuMont Art Travel Guide), p. 205, fig. 124

Web links

Commons : Römerturm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rest of the Roman city fortifications (Roman tower) on bilderbuch-koeln.de
  2. ↑ Sabine Wotzlaw: Römerturm has to be restored. City of Cologne - Office for Press and Public Relations, February 14, 2020, accessed on March 17, 2020 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '27.4 "  N , 6 ° 56' 47.8"  E