Bismarck Tower

The Bismarck Tower located in Viersen (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) was erected in honour of the chancellor Otto von Bismarck and has since become an icon of the city of Viersen. Geographical situation The Bismarck-Tower is situated in hilly woodland to the north west of Viersen called "Hoher Busch" namely on a hilltop called "Wilhelmshöhe", with a height of 84.94 metres above sea level the highest point of Viersen. At the time of its erection, the view from the top reached far out over the low-lying areas along the river Nier. Today, this view is blocked by tall trees. History and architecture The idea of building such a tower in Viersen was born on the occasion of a birthday party in 1899 in honour of Kaiser William by especially influential and patriotic Viersen citizens. The necessary money was to be collected by fund-raising activities to which the mayor, Peter Stern, not only contributed but was one of the driving forces of the action group. In the end 104 citizens donated about 36,000 Marks (ℳ). The project was not without opponents: the Viersen pastor, Lorenz Richen, in the name of all Roman Catholic priests, gave a passionate speech against the idea of honouring Bismarck of all people. Bismarck, who in his time had fiercely fought against Roman Catholic influence, for instance in the school system, was for years unpopular in the mostly Catholic Rhineland. Due to this speech encouraging Roman Catholics to protest, Richen lost his job as school inspector. The idea for such a project did not, however, originate in Viersen. As early as 1899, the patriotic "Deutsche Studentenschaften" (German Students Association) decided to honour Bismarck as the founder of the German Empire in 1871. After a competition for the design of towers or columns, they received 317 architectural plans and finally awarded the prize to the design by the Dresden architect Wilhelm Kreis called "Götterdämmerung". His work inspired many tower projects all over Germany. In Viersen, that plan was realized in 1900 in a slightly slimmer version, than the original "Götterdämmerung". It ended in a huge iron brazier on top of the building in order to light a beacon visible for miles on special occasions. The selected construction material became cuboid greywacke from the Wiehl Valley.