Goethe Tower
Encyclopedia
Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt am Main)
Sachsenhausen is a part of the city of Frankfurt, Germany. Composed of two districts: Sachsenhausen-Nord and Sachsenhausen-Süd, it is part of the Ortsbezirk Süd. It is located on the South bank of the Main river, right in the city center, opposite the Old Town.Sachsenhausen was founded as...
near Frankfurt am Main. After the Jahrtausendturm
Jahrtausendturm
Jahrtausendturm is, at , the second highest wooden tower in the world, after the radio tower in Gliwice, Poland, which stands at . It was established on the occasion of the Bundesgartenschau 1999 in the Magdeburger Elbauenpark in Magdeburg, Germany...
, the two towers of the Brück aerial testing facility
Brück aerial testing facility
The Brück aerial testing facility is a facility for testing aerials at Brück, south of Berlin. It was established in 1939.On the Brück aerial testing facility there are two 54 metre high wood framework towers built in 1963, made without any metallic parts and used for mounting aerials to measure...
, the Blumenthal Observation Tower and the Linsen Tower, it is the fifth tallest wooden construction in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, thanks to the addition of two antenna measuring stations.
History
In 1867 a wooden tower was first built on the site, at that time 22 metres tall. It was built in honour of a poem by the local poet Karl Heinrich Ehrt, who described how GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
enjoyed taking walks in the area and looking down upon the town. In a poem of 1860 he gave the spot the name "Goethe's Repose" (Goethes Ruh). After the First World War this first tower had become so rickety that it had to be pulled down.
In 1931 the Goethe Tower was rebuilt with money donated by the Jewish businessman Gustav Gerst. The opening ceremony took place in November 1931, shortly before the 1932 commemorations of Goethe's death one hundred years before. The city of Frankfurt provided the wood for the tower - altogether more than 340m³ of pine, beech and oak timber.
Today the Goethe Tower is still a popular place for day-trippers, especially families, as a large playground and a café have been built at the foot of the tower.
- This article was translated from :de:Goetheturm of 14 June 2005