The (St.) Urban Tower in Košice

Košice

Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 is originally a Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 prismatic campanile

Campanile

Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

 with a pyramidal roof. It was erected in the 14th century.

A church bell

Church bell

A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...

 installed in the tower has been dedicated to Saint Urban, the patron of vine-dressers. The bell was cast in a mould by the bell-founder Franciscus Illenfeld

Franciscus Illenfeld

Franciscus Illenfeld of Olomouc was a famous Moravian founder of bells. He had worked in Košice and his workshop was one of the best foundries in the Kingdom of Hungary....

 of Olomouc

Olomouc

Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...

 in 1557. Its weight is 7 tones.

In 1775 the pyramidal roof was constructed with annion in the Baroque style with an iron double cross. An archade passage was erected around the tower in 1912. There are 36 old gravestones (coming from the 14th and 15th centuries, one of these comes from the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 and dates back to the 4th century) bricked into the exterior walls of the St. Urban Tower.

In 1966 the tower was damaged by fire and the St. Urban Bell was destroyed as well. The reconstructed tower was reopened in 1971. The renovated bell was located in the front of the tower and a copy of the bell (made by employees of VSŽ Steel Works Košice

U. S. Steel Košice, s.r.o.

U. S. Steel Košice, s.r.o. is a steel company located in Košice, Slovakia.In November 2000, the ownership of the complete metallurgical operation of former Východoslovenské železiarne Košice was transferred to the United States Steel Corporation....

 in 1996) was installed in the campanile.

The East Slovak Museum

East Slovak Museum

The East Slovak Museum in Košice, Slovakia, is one of the oldest Slovak museums; it was founded in 1872.A neo-Renaissance building was erected in the early 20th century. It was the first building in the town designed to serve its needs as a museum...

 set up an impressive exhibition of foundrywork in the tower after the reconstruction in 1977. It was removed in 1995. Today, there is a unique wax museum

Wax museum

A wax museum or waxworks consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses....

exhibition in the tower.

External links

• St. Urban Tower on Kosice.sk (information and hictorical pictures)
• Official website of the WAXmuseum of Košice
• 3D model of Urban Tower