Storchenturm (Gernsbach)

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The east side of the Gernsbacher Storchenturm. Halfway up a door formerly leading to the battlement of the city wall.
Plan of the Gernsbach city fortifications from 1689 (north is at the bottom right). The stork tower is in the lower right corner of the wall ring behind a triangular ravelin .

The Storchenturm (also Schimmelturm , upper tower until the 19th century ) is a medieval defense tower and a landmark of the Baden-Württemberg city of Gernsbach . It is the only one of the four larger towers that were used to protect the Gernsbach city gates. It is located on the strategically important northwest corner of the city wall, 40 meters west of the Upper Gate , which is no longer in existence , one of Gernsbach's two main gates. Together with the bell tower of the neighboring Liebfrauenkirche , the stork tower secured the western, mountain-side flank of the Gernsbach city wall, which was not protected by natural obstacles.

The 26-meter-high tower has, at the height of the former battlements on the formerly 10-meter-high city wall, an ogival gate as access on the south and east side. According to the inscription, the level access from the main street that exists today was created in 1891. The wall thickness on the ground floor is 1.45 m. In the western tower wall there is an approximately 1.90 m high slit hole for archers.

The exact age of the tower shaft is not known. The Obere Tor has been documented since 1441, the origin of the Gernsbach city fortifications is believed to be in the 13th century. According to a dendrochronological study, the half-timbered tower of the stork tower dates from 1471/1472. 82 steps lead to the tower room, in which an exhibition on the history of the Gernsbach city fortifications and the stork tower is shown today.

Web links

Commons : Stork Tower  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Hennl: in Gernsbach - structures and developments by the end of Baden-ebersteinischen Kondominats in 1660. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-17-019480-1 , S. 64th
  2. ^ Peter Hirschfeld: The art monuments of the district of Rastatt. (Excluding the city of Rastatt and Favorite Palace). (= Die Kunstdenkmäler Baden, Volume 12, Section 1) CF Müller, Karlsruhe 1963, p. 130.
  3. ↑ Hennl, p. 61 f.
  4. ↑ Irene Schneid-Horn: Renovation of the stork tower brings many surprises to the day. In: Gernsbacher Stadtanzeiger, edition 51/2012, p. 20.

Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 50.6 "  N , 8 ° 19 ′ 51.7"  E