Water Tower (Ełk)

The water tower

The water tower in Ełk ( German Lyck ) is a historical listed water tower in the neo-Gothic style. The water tower is owned and seated by the local group of the German minority , the Society of the German Minority Masuria in Lyck , which has set up a museum on East Prussian culture and history inside. The tower is located at the intersection of 11 Listopada and Kajki streets . The structure has five floors, is 33 meters high and is located at the highest point in the city. It has a public viewing platform.

history

The water tower was built in 1895 and was used as such until the late 1970s. Since spring 1994 the former water tower has been owned by the Society of the German Minority Masuria in Lyck , which was founded in 1991. For this purpose, the company acquired heritable building rights for the property. The Hamburg entrepreneur Heinrich Westphal donated part of the financing, the rest was raised with the help of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft. In 1995 the society moved into the tower as its headquarters and set up a club café. With the support of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, the exterior facade was extensively renovated in 1999.

museum

The museum, called Muzeum Kropli Wody ( Museum of the Water Drop ), displays historical objects such as furniture, porcelain, flax fabrics, costumes, glass products, a wooden chest with the year 1729 and other everyday objects. In addition to a historical picture collection of the place, there is also a library with German-language literature in the tower.

Since June 9, 2008, the museum has been showing a permanent exhibition on the history of the city from its first mention until the end of the war in 1945, created by the East Prussia Cultural Center in Ellingen .

literature

Wochenblatt , Numbers 51–52, 2014

Web links

Commons : Water Tower (Ełk) - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Manfred E. Fritsche: From water drops to city history. In: Kulturpolitische Korrespondenz. Kulturportal-west-ost.eu, May 30, 2009, accessed on October 21, 2016 .
↑ Successful, good and eventful. The association of the German minority in Lyck “Masuren” looks back with satisfaction on the past year. ostpreussen.de, February 18, 2009, accessed on October 21, 2016 .

53.830174 22.339892Coordinates: 53 ° 49 ′ 48.6 " N , 22 ° 20 ′ 23.6" E

[1] Manfred E. Fritsche: From water drops to city history. In: Kulturpolitische Korrespondenz. Kulturportal-west-ost.eu, May 30, 2009, accessed on October 21, 2016 .

[2] Successful, good and eventful. The association of the German minority in Lyck “Masuren” looks back with satisfaction on the past year. ostpreussen.de, February 18, 2009, accessed on October 21, 2016 .