Langeoog water tower
The Langeoog water tower , built in 1909, is the landmark of the German North Sea island of Langeoog in East Frisia / Lower Saxony .
location
The water tower is located in the northwest of the island at the end of the main street of the island village. It was built on the more than ten meter high Kaap dunes and can be reached via a footpath or stepped path that is located on a connecting path from the place to the kilometer-long sandy and bathing beach on the lake side. The viewing platform of the 18 meter high tower is located at a height of 23 meters above sea level.
Historical background
At the beginning of the 20th century, the previous water supply and disposal in the prosperous seaside resort turned out to be inadequate. The tourist traffic on the island as summer resort , which began in the second half of the 19th century and which soon developed significantly, was the previous drinking and The production of industrial water from cisterns and often salty wells has grown just as little as the sewage disposal by means of septic tanks or the discharge into open trenches with the corresponding germ and odor emissions . Due to these circumstances and the sustained pressure from the responsible regulatory authorities after the submission of numerous complaints from spa guests, the municipal council decided in 1908 to commission the Berlin-Anhaltische Maschinenbau Actien-Gesellschaft (BAMAG) with the construction of a new water supply and disposal system on Langeoog . This included the construction of four water extraction wells in the dune belt, a waterworks , the associated water pipes , a water tower to generate the required water pressure in these pipes and the construction of a sewer system . To finance these not inconsiderable costs for the small community, the tourist tax was introduced on Langeoog in 1906 .
On February 16, 1909, the Westkaap was demolished, a wooden beacon standing on the dune , which had an upside-down triangle as a distinguishing mark and was a navigational mark only visible from afar in daylight without lights . On the same day, the foundation stone was laid for the water tower that still exists today.
description
The floor plan of the tower, built according to the Intze principle (Intze 1 container with inner cylinder), is octagonal throughout, even if the diameter varies depending on the height. The tower substructure is made of brick. The sides are plastered and painted white, while the corners, in contrast, are made of unplastered, red bricks and thus form visible and distinctive corner pilasters . Today the coat of arms of the island community is located above the entrance portal. The floor housing the water tank with a maximum capacity of around 100 cubic meters protrudes well beyond the dimensions of the foundation. It is provided with a white facade cladding, on which small windows are merely indicated on all eight sides. Above this there is a small, walkable roof lantern with viewing windows. This is clad with wooden planks painted white. The roofs are covered with red tiles. Originally, today's building was supposed to have an inverted triangle as a distinguishing feature , as was the beacon that was laid down . However, this was not done because the tower itself is visually practically unmistakable due to its distinctive appearance as a unique selling point .
present
The water tower has no lighting device for navigation and is not the tallest building on the island (this is the tower of the island church). However, due to its exposed location and the associated overall height above the MThw as well as its characteristic construction, it is a landmark visible from afar in daylight and at the same time a striking landmark . At the end of the 1980s, the water tower was decommissioned because it was due to a new technology ( Pump system with variable pressure-regulated speed) was no longer required. Since then it has served as the island's landmark and as a lookout tower. The tower was extensively renovated in 1994 and from October 2008 to May 2009. It can also be found as a symbol of Langeoog in the logo of the island community.
sightseeing
The Langeoog water tower can be visited by climbing it. In the basement there is a small exhibition about the island's water supply. Admission to the exhibition is just as free as that of the nearby museum “Infohaus Altes Wasserwerk” with further information about water management on Langeoog.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Claudia Banck: East Frisian Islands & North Sea Coast. (From Borkum to Wangerooge) (= DuMont travel paperback ). 3rd, updated edition. DuMont-Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-7701-6048-8 , p. 117–118 ( online at Google Books ).
- ↑ Information on the page Langeooger-wasserturm.de
- ↑ Baken-Net.de
- ↑ Langeoog water tower ( memento of the original from October 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Information on renovation on the construction company's homepage
- ↑ island logo
- ↑ Information on opening times
- ↑ Information about the museum “Infohaus Altes Wasserwerk” ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2016 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. (PDF file; 3.3 MB)
Coordinates: 53 ° 44 ′ 50.3 " N , 7 ° 28 ′ 35" E