Weißenstein Tower
The Weißenstein Tower is a 19 m high observation tower on the Weißenstein , the local mountain of the market town of Stammbach in the Upper Franconian district of Hof . A watch tower was originally located here as part of the margravial waiting system .
The observation tower today
The Weißenstein Tower is open to the public all year round. It offers a panoramic view of the Fichtel Mountains and the Franconian Forest . It is a monument . In addition to a network of hiking trails, the tower is also a stage destination of the Franconian Stone Kingdom quality hiking trail . The traditional inn is right next to the tower.
History of the Weißenstein Tower
Watch tower
The Weißenstein was already of strategic importance in the Middle Ages. Due to its exposed location, you could see the Plassenburg and other striking points as far as Kulmbach . That is why the Weißenstein was integrated into the margravial waiting system. The system of waiting towers had become necessary because the Guttenberg feud in 1497 between Margrave Friedrich and Moritz von Guttenberg repeatedly led to looting in the margravial area. The aim of the system was to locate such robber baron attacks quickly and to fight them with armed troops. The " captain on the mountains " Kunz von Wirsberg worked out a maintenance order in 1498 , which provided for 18 permanently manned signal stations. Each signal station was given a tower with two to three floors and was always manned by two guards. They had the task of observing the other waiting towers and the surrounding area day and night and giving the alarm if necessary. The transmission system at that time was very primitive and consisted of fire by night and smoke by day.
Helmut Hennig assumes that three waiting towers have existed over time. The first plant, probably made of wood, could already at times of Viscount Frederick V have passed. The maintenance regulations of 1498 already made specific guidelines u. a. About height and crew, so that this standard preceded previous buildings. Before the Thirty Years' War the waiting room was occupied and there were always wars and feuds that made them necessary. Then it was the War of the Spanish Succession that made the reoccupation of the waiting room seem sensible. Old control rooms were repaired or rebuilt, but then fell into disrepair. When the observation tower was built in 1898, the foundations of the medieval watchtower were exposed.
Round tower from 1898
A seven meter high stone round tower was built on the Weißenstein in 1898 as an observation tower. This was the first fruit of the Weißenstein Association, which was founded in 1896 as a beautification association and which today forms a local branch of the Fichtelgebirge Association . Factory owner Robert Schoepf was the club's chairman from the beginning until 1929 and contributed to the solid financial support of the club. The builder was the founding member of the association, Philipp Ehrler. The cost of building was around 700 marks. The round tower is the motif of a small series with three notes from emergency money from Stammbach. In 1899, the association also laid out a shelter hut, which was continuously expanded to become today's restaurant. The trees planted in 1864 quickly towered over the tower, which led to the idea of a new tower. The round tower was replaced by today's 19 m high observation tower.
Construction of the observation tower in 1925
In 1924 the planning of today's tower began. The contract was awarded to the architect Hans Reissinger from Bayreuth. He had already designed the Asenturm on the Ochsenkopf . The new tower was inaugurated on May 21, 1925. The construction costs were between 11,000 and 14,000 Reichsmarks, depending on the source . As with the first tower, the builder was Philipp Ehrler, this time with his son Karl. The roof (Flaschner work) was carried out by Hans Weiß. The tower is probably the only building in the world that is made of eclogite. The stones for the construction were broken directly below the tower in a quarry specially created for the tower. The cover page of the 1996 Festschrift features a picture of the tower by Karl Bedal .
Construction of today's tower in 1925, source: Ehrler construction business
Blackboard with references to the Beautification Association
Memorial plaque for Robert Schoepf
literature
- Tilmann Breuer : District of Münchberg . The art monuments of Bavaria , brief inventories, XIII. Band . German art publisher . Munich 1961. p. 61.
- Helmut Hennig: Warthen on the mountains . In: Local supplement to the official school gazette of the administrative district of Upper Franconia . Bayreuth. No. 256 November 1998. pp. 29-33.
- Weißensteinverein (ed.): 100 years of Weißensteinverein (1896–1996) . Festschrift, Zell 1996.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The Weißenstein near Stammbach (Ldkr. Hof) on the website of the Fichtelgebirgsverein eV
- ↑ Weißensteinverein (ed.), Pp. 16-18.
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 48 ″ N , 11 ° 41 ′ 25.4 ″ E