Wismar water tower

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Water tower at the gymnasium

The water tower in the Hanseatic city of Wismar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is a neo-Gothic brick tower from 1897. It was part of the former waterworks at the Turnplatz. The waterworks is on the list of monuments of the Hanseatic city of Wismar Wismar.

location

The water tower is located in the Wismar district of Wismar-Süd, southeast of the old town and about 500 meters west of the mill pond . In the immediate vicinity of the waterworks are the Catholic parish church of St. Laurentius and the building of the former lyceum , which is now used as a music school and was inaugurated on October 8, 1907. The gymnasium itself, with its oval-shaped beech trees, which formed a 400-meter running track, was built in 1863 according to guidelines from Friedrich Ludwig Jahn for the students of the Great City School . This square and the land on which the tower stands today were owned by the Grand Ducal until 1905 and were donated to the city.

Building

Water tower and building of the waterworks

The four-storey, round brick tower has a height of 28 meters (according to another source: 33.78 m). Like the pump house, it was built in the neo-Gothic style. The top floor, crowned with a crenellated wreath, protrudes from the rest of the tower shaft over a pointed arch frieze and stepped blind niches . The walls are ornamented with green glazed bricks . The windows are narrow and pointed .

The water tank has a net capacity of 300 m³. Two 15 hp, horizontal, single-cylinder steam engines with injection condensation drove - following a description from 1927 - lying, double-acting plunger pumps with a normal output of 100 and a maximum output of 125 m³ per hour. Another double-acting plunger pump with a delivery rate of 210 m³ / h (max. 240 m³ / h) was operated by a direct current motor with an output of 30 HP and could also cover consumption peaks.

The boilers of the steam engines each had about 20 m² heating surface and 7 atm overpressure.

history

As early as 1573, water had been piped into the city from near Metelsdorf . The water art , which after its implementation around 1600 is at its current location on the market square, replaced a wooden box that had previously been there and served to supply the citizens with water until 1897, was fed from these sources. Obtaining water from only one source turned out to be disadvantageous when the pipes were cut during the siege of Wismar in 1675. Therefore, since 1685, additional water was pumped from the mill pond into a former defense tower, which was part of the city fortifications and is now called the old water tower , and passed on from there. Due to the risk of cholera , the water from the pond has not been allowed to be mixed with the Metelsdorf water since 1892. The expansion of the city and the resulting increased demand for water also made it necessary to develop further sources. A water reservoir was found at the former gasworks that additionally secured the drinking water supply by means of three 15 to 52 meter deep pipe wells. The 16 pipe wells near Metelsdorf remained the most important supply base for the time being. Since November 3, 1897, the water was pumped into the container of the newly built water tower at the gymnasium, from where it was further distributed via the pipeline network. Despite the new waterworks, there was also a lack of water in the period that followed, which only changed with the introduction of water meters in 1908.

In 1929 new sources were opened in Friedrichshof. Over the years, the technical systems have been renewed and expanded. With the construction of the Friedrichshof waterworks in the east of Wismar, the waterworks at Turnplatz was shut down in 1967, but the water tower still served the function of a backup storage facility for possible accidents for some time .

literature

Web links

Commons : Wismar Water Tower  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Christian Feldmann: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (= Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments. ). Revision. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich et al. 2000, ISBN 3-422-03081-6 , p. 701.
  2. ↑ Report on the creation of the monument lists as well as on the administrative practice in notifying the owners and municipalities as well as on the handling of change requests (as of June 1997) (PDF; 934 kB)
  3. ^ Gustav Willgeroth : Notes on the history of Wismar. 1901-1910. Self-published, Wismar 1911, p. 92.
  4. ↑ Gustav Willgeroth: Pictures from Wismar's past. Collected contributions to the history of the city of Wismar. Willgeroth & Menzel, Wismar 1903, p. 147.
  5. ↑ Technical monuments and sights in West Mecklenburg. Association of the Technical State Museum Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin 2002.
  6. ↑ a b Christel Kindler, Arthur Eulert: The water tower at the Turnplatz. In: Christel Kindler, Arthur Eulert: Wismar for connoisseurs. Forays. Weiland, Wismar 2004, pp. 140-142.
  7. ↑ Detlef Schmidt : How the Danes came to Wismar ... Or the "wet" secret of Wismar. A historical narrative. Weiland Verlagbuchhandlung, Wismar 2009, ISBN 978-3-87890-145-7 , p. 60.

Coordinates: 53 ° 53 ′ 17.8 "  N , 11 ° 28 ′ 16"  E