Water tower on the Giersberg

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Water tower on the Giersberg
Water tower, distant view
Bottom view of the water tank

The water tower on the Giersberg in Braunschweig was built in 1901 by the city's waterworks and was an essential part of the water supply in the city center. The design intended for execution comes from city architect Max Osterloh and city building officer Ludwig Winter . The engineer A. Thiem from Leipzig, who is experienced in this field, was entrusted with the development of the construction, the equipment and the technical evidence.

The water tower was fed with water from the groundwater works on Bienroder Weg, which was built at the same time . The groundwater works and the water tower replaced the river water works on the Oker in the station park (today Bürgerpark ) , which had existed since 1865 . The water tank built into the Giersberg tower by the Brunswick Wilke works has a capacity of 2000 m³. The Giersberg hill was chosen as the construction site , which is located on the other side of the Okerring, east of the Braunschweig city center and which exceeds the level of the old town by more than 10 m. The structure was erected on the corner of the existing Giersbergstrasse and Hochstrasse. Due to its location and height of 58.7 m, the water tower can be seen from afar. It is part of the silhouette of the city, which then, as now, is largely determined by the towers of the churches.

Part of the urban water supply

Since around the 14th century, the public fountains of the medieval city have been fed with spring water from two wells and so-called “neighborhood fountains”. Since the 16th century, water came from the Oker surrounding the city. In the 19th century, clarified Oker water was supplied by the waterworks in the railway park. The Giersberg water tower served as a pressure equalization and storage tank in this system. Two groundwater works on Bienroder Weg and in Rüningen secured the drinking water supply until the 1950s. Due to the increasing demand for water, water was finally brought into the city from the nearby Harz via pipelines.

The water tower on the Giersberg was decommissioned in 1989 and is now a listed building . It is owned by BS Energy .

The Giersberg

At 83.39 m, the Giersberg is one of the highest natural elevations in the Braunschweig urban area. It is located in the southeast between the Okerring and the so-called Stadtring, in a residential area that was mainly created during the early days of the company . The water tower is on its apex . Immediately next to the tower is the former Catholic cemetery of the Nicolaikirche , a little further east is the former Mars-la-Tour barracks on Altewiekring.

According to legend, Heinrich the lion is said to have been set down on the Giersberg by the devil at the end of his adventure trip .

literature

  • Wilhelm Appelt, Theodor Müller: Water arts and waterworks of the city of Braunschweig. (= Braunschweig work pieces. Vol. 33, ISSN  0175-338X ). Orphanage printing house Publishing house, Braunschweig 1964.
  • Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
  • Jürgen Hodemacher : Braunschweig's streets. Their names and their stories. Volume 2: Between Okergraben and the city ring. Elm-Verlag, Cremlingen 1996, ISBN 3-927060-12-7 .

Web links

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

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 49 ″  N , 10 ° 32 ′ 16 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. The water tower on the website braunschweig.de (accessed on April 20, 2010)
  2. a b Camerer, Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. 1992, p. 88.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Appelt, Theodor Müller: Water arts and waterworks of the city of Braunschweig (= Braunschweiger Werkstücke. Vol. 33). 1964, p. 111.
  4. ^ Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweig's streets. Their names and their stories. Volume 2: Between Okergraben and the city ring. 1996, p. 194.