The sole surviving

Bismarck tower A Bismarck tower (german: Bismarckturm) is a specific type of monument built according to a more or less standard model across Germany to honour its first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (d. 1898). A total of 234 of these towers were inventoried b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

can be found in the commune of

Le Ban-Saint-Martin Le Ban-Saint-Martin (; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle department of Franc ...

near

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. The tower was erected in 1902 when the area was part of Alsace-Lorraine, a ''Reichsland'' of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. Though accessible to modern-day visitors, the Bismarck Tower of Metz is currently in a semi-ruined state, damaged by vandals and weathering.

History

The construction of a Bismarck tower in or around Metz was first proposed in the winter of 1898-1899 by one Lieutenant-Colonel Winterfeld, whose unit was then stationed in the area. Donations were solicited by a special committee, and on 1 April 1901 (Bismarck's birthday) the foundation stone was laid down. For security reasons (as a border town, Metz was one of the most fortified cities in Germany), the tower was not allowed to be constructed at the summit of Mont Saint-Quentin, but rather on its southeastern slope. The tower was inaugurated exactly one year later, on 1 April 1902, attended by various military and civilian leaders. At 8 pm that same evening, the first fire was lit on the tower.

Construction and design

The Metz Bismarck Tower is tall, and is one of the first Bismarck towers to be built in the ''Götterdämmerung'' style conceptualised by

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the founda ...

(squat construction, with a fire beacon at the top). It is thus very similar in design to its sister tower in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

(1904). Construction works were carried out by the firm Haase & Schott from Metz. The exterior of the tower is made out of limestone. There is a sandstone relief of Bismarck on the side of the tower facing the town, now riddled with bullet holes. At the top of the tower was a large square brazier upon which fires could be lit on certain festive occasions. After the tower was opened, there was a proposal by the local newspaper, the ''Metzer Zeitung'', to rename Mont St-Quentin to the ''Bismarck-Höhe'', but the idea was ultimately rejected.François Roth:''Le Temps des journaux 1860-1940'', Nancy University Press, Editions Serpennoise, Bar-le-Duc, 1983 (p.81).

Contemporary situation

French troops reoccupied Metz in November 1918, after the German defeat in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France in 1919. That same year the French authorities removed the brazier from the tower. It was also around this time that the relief of Bismarck was defaced. Damage to the tower had been noted as early as 1906, when the Vosges Club and Beautification Association recorded fire damage to the column (burnt bricks on the observation deck) and rust on the iron staircase. Renovations were carried out intermittently until early 1914. The tower was effectively abandoned after French sovereignty was restored to the region. Although officially closed since 2001, tourists may still visit the tower. The structure is currently in need of restoration. More than a century of weathering, wartime damage, and graffiti have taken their toll on the exterior; as of August 2012 it is in a semi-ruined state, covered by dense vegetation.

References

External links

Bismarck tower in Metz (in German)
{{coord, 49, 07, 18, N, 6, 08, 08, E, region:DE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title

Buildings and structures in Moselle (department) Towers completed in 1902