![Pulverturm Meschede](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Pulverturm_Meschede.jpg)
A powder tower (german: Pulverturm), occasionally also powder house (''Pulverhaus''), was a building used by the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
or by
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
companies, frequently a
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
, to store
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
or, later,
explosives
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
. They were common until the 20th century, but were increasingly succeeded by
gunpowder magazine
A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications requ ...
s and
ammunition depot
An ammunition dump, ammunition supply point (ASP), ammunition handling area (AHA) or ammunition depot is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives.
The storage of live ammunition and explosives is inherently hazardous. The ...
s. The explosion of a powder tower could be catastrophic as, for example, in the
Delft Explosion
Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan ...
of 1654.
Buildings formerly used as powder towers include the following:
*
Langer Turm, Aachen
*
Pulvertürmchen in Aachen
*
Pulverturm, Andernach
*
Pulverturm, Anklam
*
Pulverturm, Bad Bentheim
*
Pulverturm, Bad Reichenhall
*
Bremer Pulvertürme Bremer may refer to:
People
*Bremer (surname)
*Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician
* Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer
Places
;Australia
*Bremer Bay, Western Australia
*Bremer Marine Park
*Bremer Island
* Bremer River (disambigua ...
*
Pulverturm, Burghausen
*
Malteserturm in
Chur
*
Knochenturm in
Einbeck
Einbeck (; Eastphalian: ''Aimbeck'') is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, on the German Timber-Frame Road.
History
Prehistory
The area of the current city of Einbeck is inhabited since prehistoric times. Vario ...
*
Pulverturm, Greiz
*
Färberturm, Gunzenhausen
*
Pulverturm, Hameln
*
Pulverturm, Johanngeorgenstadt
The Pulverturm in Johanngeorgenstadt was a tower used by the mining authorities for storing gunpowder for the Neu Leipziger Glück pit. It was built in 1798 in a sparsely settled region outside the town on the spoil heap of the Gotthelf Schaller ...
*
Pulverturm, Jena
*
Pulverturm, Krems
*
Pulverturm, Leutkirch im Allgäu
The Leutkirch Pulverturm or Leutkirch Powder Tower (german: Pulverturm) was built towards the end of the 17th century on the southeast corner of Leutkirch im Allgäu, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, as part of the rebuilding of the collapsed town w ...
*
Pulverturm, Lindau
*
Pulverturm Lingen, Ems
*
Pulverturm, Linz am Rhein
*
Pulverturm, Mainz
*
Pulverturm, Memmingen
*
Pulverturm, Merano
*
Pulverturm, Meschede
*
Pulverturm, Munich
*
Buddenturm in
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
* Pulverturm, Ochsenfurt
*
Pulverturm, Oldenburg
*
Powder Tower, Otjimbingwe,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
*
Powder Tower, Prague
The Powder Tower or Powder Gate ( cs, Prašná brána) is a Gothic tower in Prague, Czech Republic. It is one of the original city gates. It separates the Old Town from the New Town.
History
The Powder Tower is one of the original 13 city ...
(''Prašná brána'')
*
Pulverturm, Quedlinburg
*
Pulverturm, Rheinberg
*
Powder Tower, Riga
The Powder Tower ( lv, Pulvertornis) is situated in Riga, Latvia, and originally a part of the defensive system of the town. The current Powder Tower was built in 1650 and renovated in the years 1937 to 1940 when it was added to the structure o ...
(''Pulvertornis'')
*
Pulverturm, Schlanders
*
Pulverturm, Straubing
*
Pulverturm, Templin
The Pulverturm in Templin is a tower on the old town fortifications of Templin in Brandenburg.
It is located in the eastern part of Templin's ''Altstadt'' not far from the Prenzlau Gate. The tower was built in the early 15th century from an old ...
*
Pulverturm, Vellberg
*
Pulverturm, Wiedenbrück
* Pulverturm, Zofingen
* Pulverturm in
Zwickau
Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
The
Pulverturm, Demmin, bears the name, but was probably not used for this purpose.
Gallery
Prague 07-2016 View from Old Town Hall Tower img8.jpg, The Powder Tower in Prague
Pulverturm Oldenburg.jpg, Pulverturm in Oldenburg with remains of the old town wall
Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, Außen.jpg, Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, exterior view
Landsberg Befestigung 8.jpg, Pulverturm in Landsberg am Lech
Lindau-pulverturm.jpg, Pulverturm in Lindau
Pulverturm neumarkt.jpg, Pulverturm in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate
Pulverturm (Riga).JPG, Pulverturm in Riga
PulverturMM.jpg, Pulverturm in Memmingen
Langer_Turm1.JPG, Langer Turm in Aachen
Pulverturm Linz am Rhein.jpg, Pulverturm in Linz am Rhein
Pulverturm_Rottenburg_01.JPG, Pulverturm in Rottenburg/Neckar
Pulverturm Johanngeorgenstadt.jpg, Pulverturm in Johanngeorgenstadt
Pulverturm otjimbingwe namibia 2012.jpg, Pulverturm in Otjimbingwe, Namibia
Pulverturm_in_Zofingen.jpg, Pulverturm in Zofingen
Zwickau city wall with powder tower (aka).jpg, Pulverturm in Zwickau
External links
{{Wiktionary
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Fortified towers by type