Halsbrücker Esse is a smokestack to the north of
Halsbrücke
Halsbrücke is a municipality and village in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated just north of Freiberg, on the banks of the Freiberger Mulde river.
Geography
Halsbrücke lies 5 km north of Freiberg on the le ...
near
Freiberg in Saxony, Germany. It is also known as ''Hohe Esse'' or ''Halsbrück(e)ner Esse'', ''Esse'' being an
East Central German word for a smokestack.
With a height of it was the highest smokestack of the world at its completion (nowadays the
Anaconda Smelter Stack in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
is higher), and it remains the tallest brick building in Europe. It is a technical and industrial historical monument.
History
The Halsbrücker Esse was built on the eastern slope of the
Freiberger Mulde
The Freiberger Mulde ( cs, Freiberská Mulda, also called the ''Östliche Mulde'' or Eastern Mulde) is the right-hand, headstream of the river Mulde, whose catchment covers an area of in the Czech Republic and Germany in central Saxony. It has a ...
between 22 September 1888 and 28 October 1889 by the smokestack building firm H.R. Heinicke from
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
in order 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 , the lower diameter being and the upper diameter . The chimney consists of 4,140 tons of fireproof clay bricks from the Grube Ilse near
Senftenberg
Senftenberg ( wen, Zły Komorow) is a town in Lower Lusatia, 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. It ...
. The mortar consists of 170 tons of Bohemian lime, 1,030 tons of sand from the river
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
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 at the bottom of the chimney down to near the top. It is connected to the smelting works at the bottom of the valley by a 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 into the
Tharandt Forest
The Tharandt Forest (german: Tharandter Wald) 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.
See also
*
List of towers
Several extant building fulfill the engineering definition of a tower: "a tall human structure, always taller than it is wide, for public or regular operational access by humans, but not for living in or office work, and are ''self-supporting' ...
External links
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=55932
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halsbrucker Esse
Towers completed in 1889
Chimneys in Germany
Mining in the Ore Mountains
Freiberg