Halsbrücker Esse is a smokestack to the north of Halsbrücke

Halsbrücke

Halsbrücke is a municipality in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany....

 near Freiberg

Freiberg, Saxony

Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Mittelsachsen district.-History:The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries...

. It is also known as Hohe Esse or Halsbrück(e)ner Esse, Esse being an East Central German

East Central German

East Central German is the non-Franconian sub-group of Central German dialects, themselves part of High German. It comprises:*Standard German*Thuringian*Upper Saxon German*Lausitzisch-Neumärkisch, whose best-known form is the Berlinerisch dialect...

 word for a smokestack.

With a height of 140m it was the highest smokestack in the world at its completion and it remains the tallest brick building in Europe (the Anaconda Smelter Stack

Anaconda Smelter Stack

The Anaconda Smelter Stack is a radial brick smoke stack, once part of the Anaconda Smelter at Anaconda, Montana in the United States. The stack rests on a concrete foundation and measures 585 feet 1.5 inches high. The inside diameter of the stack is at the bottom and at the top...

 in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 is higher) and is a technical and industrial historical monument.

History

It was built on the eastern slope of the Freiberger Mulde

Freiberger Mulde

The Freiberger Mulde is a river in Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Mulde and 124 km in length.The source of the river is in the Ore Mountains, near Moldava, in the Czech Republic. It runs northwest, crossing the border with Germany after a few km, to Freiberg , and further...

 between 22 September 1888 to 28 October 1889 by the smokestack building firm H.R. Heinicke from Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

 to provide a chimney for the exhaust fumes of the smelting works. It began service in April 1890 and has been in operation since.

Construction

The surface area of the building covers 144 m2, the lower diameter being 8.25m and the upper diameter 3m. The chimney consists of 4,140 tons of fireproof clay bricks from the Grube Ilse near Senftenberg

Senftenberg

Senftenberg is a town in southern Brandenburg, Germany, capital of the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district.-Geography:Senftenberg is located in the southwest of the historic Lower Lusatia region at the border with Saxony...

. The mortar consists of 170 tons of Bohemian lime, 1,030 tons of sand from the river Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 and 60 tons of cement. The total mass has been estimated to be 5,400 tons. The chimney can be climbed using step irons on the inside and outside. To stabilise the chimney iron rings were attached which are spaced 5.5m at the bottom of the chimney down to 2m near the top. It is connected to the smeltering works at the bottom of the valley by a 500m long flue gas duct.

Environmental issues

The chimney was built in full knowledge of the environmental and health hazards posed by the noxious gases. The prevailing winds coming from the east to south-east, its construction achieved the goal of improving the air quality downwind in the vicinity. However, the problem was only shifted sideways by about 15-20km into the Tharandt Forest

Tharandt Forest

The Tharandt Forest is a landscape in the centre of the German Free State of Saxony and lies southwest of the forest town of Tharandt, south of the town of Wilsdruff, roughly between the cities of Freiberg and Dresden...

where the environmental damage was soon noticed and studied.

External links

• http://www.skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=55932