Thomasturm

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Today's remains of the Thomasturm

The Thomasturm is a former watchtower of the Basel city wall . It was the northernmost point on the bank of the city and served as a fortification tower for the outer city wall opposite the Rhine and the country.

The Thomasturm is already mentioned by name in the watch order of 1374 as "sant Thomans thurne". It was also recorded there that the boatmen and fishermen were responsible for the tower. The Thomas Tower is named after Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury , who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170 . A statue in his honor stood on the side of the tower facing the Rhine.

In 1806 the statue was removed and the upper floors of the tower torn down. The Grand Council of Basel decided to redesign the ski jump next to the tower into a promenade and to sacrifice the tower. When in 1882/1883 the “St. Johanns-Rheinweg ”, the lower floors disappeared into the ground; Thus the tower, which once towered up out of the Rhine, became a tower stub, which was provided with a decorative crenellated wreath in 1888 .

The former height of the tower with the flat pyramid roof can hardly be imagined if you look at today's Thomasturm with the Zinnenkanzel. At the foot of the tower takes place on Barbara's at 18.30 pm the traditional salute of shooting, December 4, artillery association Basel-Stadt instead.

literature

  • Guido Helmig / Christoph Ph.Matt in the 1989 annual report of Archaeological Soil Research Basel-Stadt, catalog of the landside Äusseren Großbasler Stadtbefestigungen, ISBN 3-905098-10-5 , pp. 137 to 138.
  • CH Baer: Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Basel Stadt , Volume 1, 1932, Birkhäuser Verlag, pp. 200 to 202 and Plate 13 opposite p. 210.
  • CA Müller: The city fortifications of Basel, 1956, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, pp. 48 to 49.
  • Franz August Stocker : Basler Stadtbilder, 1890, St. Georgs Verlag, pp. 8 to 10.
  • E. Blum and Th. Nüesch: Basel Einst und Jetzt, Eine Kulturhistorische Heimatkunde, 1913, Verlag Hermann Krüsi, p. 14.

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 34 ′ 1 "  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 58.7"  E ; CH1903:  610863  /  268,482