Reinhold Maier Tower
The Reinhold Maier Tower is a former water tower on Kaiserstraße between Breech and Rattenharz that has been converted into a viewing tower . Among other things, it offers a view of the three Kaiserberge Staufen , Stuifen and Rechberg .
History of the pendulum tower
Around 1900 there was a great lack of drinking water in parts of Württemberg . In 1909, the city of Stuttgart submitted an expert opinion in which the procurement of drinking water from the northern Black Forest or Lake Constance was discussed. As an alternative, one saw the extraction of water in the Donauried near Niederstotzingen . The water was to be brought in through the valleys of Brenz , Kocher and Rems .
The decision was ultimately made in favor of this proposal. Weighty arguments were the fact that the Donauried was in Württemberg and not in Baden, that the amount of water to be expected was greater than that expected in the northern Black Forest and that only a difference in altitude of 86 meters had to be compensated for when the line at Aalen crossed the Swabian Alb would be led. In contrast, if water had been brought in from Lake Constance, a level difference of 310 meters would have to be compensated.
The project was coordinated and financed by the state. 14.5 million marks were made available to supply the cities of Stuttgart, Esslingen , Ellwangen , Schwäbisch Gmünd and 31 other founding members with water. The construction of the facilities should be completed in three years.
At the end of 1912 the first wells were drilled near Niederstotzingen and the first pipes for the pipeline were laid near Fellbach . With the outbreak of World War I , the work that had been going according to plan came to a standstill, but in 1916 the pendulum tower was built on Kaiserstraße and on August 3, 1916, the Rombach Group received drinking water from the Donauried for the first time. The water supply did not officially start operating until July 1, 1917.
The Breech facility, to which today's Reinhold-Maier-Turm belonged, stood on the main line road. It consisted of an underground water tank with space for 10,000 cubic meters of water in the two storage chambers, a power generation system and the approximately 25 meter high pendulum tower . A pipe rose in this tower, the purpose of which was to compensate for pressure fluctuations in the incoming water so that the pipelines were not overloaded. Eight small turbines converted the excess water energy into electrical energy.
Reconstruction and naming
At the end of the 1990s, the pendulum tower was no longer necessary for the water supply; Demolition was requested in 2007. There was resistance to this from the population of Börtling. Finally, the state water supply in Stuttgart handed the tower over to the municipality of Börtlingen for use for 99 years and also granted a grant of 40,000 euros for the renovation of the structure. The community received additional funding of 56,000 euros in 2008 through the “Schurwald Regional Landscape Park” project, which was supported by the Stuttgart Region Association. Around 12,000 euros were also donated by around 100 Börtlinger citizens. After a public survey, in which numerous people spoke out in favor of the concept of redesigning it into a lookout tower, the Börtlinger municipal council also voted for this project. In 2009 the building permit was available and by April 2010 the redesign of the tower including the extension of the viewing platform, which meant an additional 26,000 euros in costs, had been completed.
In 2009 it was decided to name the tower after Reinhold Maier . Reinhold Maier, the first Prime Minister of the State of Baden-Württemberg, loved the "Kaisersträßle", which led directly past the facility, and often went for walks there. It is said that in 1955 he did a service to a Breecher's woman who was unrecognized; the woman had asked him to bring a bundt cake to her daughter, who was lying in bed in the neighboring village, because she had no time for it herself because of the haymaking. Maier did this job as requested and the Börtlinger residents have been nicknamed "Gugelhupfer" ever since. When the pendulum tower was converted into an observation tower, it was christened Maiers.
Observation and abseiling tower
The riser inside the tower was removed. The names of the donors can be read on the steps and landings; On the walls of the tower there is a documentation on the history of the water supply on the Schurwald from around 1900 as well as on Reinhold Maier and his politics.
The spiral staircase leads to a tower circuit, from which you can abseil from a height of about 20 meters. The Reinhold-Maier-Turm is open from May to October on weekends and on public holidays, otherwise by appointment. However, the offer to abseil down from the green-and-white-striped tower is not available on all opening dates.
Web links
- Reinhold-Maier-Turm municipal administration Börtlingen
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c history of the tower at www.boertlingen.de
- ^ Börtlingen community, The Reinhold-Maier-Turm (leaflet, design: Sandra Skutta)
- ↑ Abseiling ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Göppingen district, surprising. Inviting. Welcome to Fils and Albtrauf and in the Stauferland. Tourist offers , 2014, p. 60
Coordinates: 48 ° 46 ′ 16.3 " N , 9 ° 38 ′ 28.7" E