The Wittelsbacher Jubiläumsturm is a look-out at the "Scheinberg", a hill which is 400 metres high and located in Arnshausen, a quarter of the German spa town of

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which beca ...

. The tower belongs to the heritage registers of Bad Kissingen and has an entry in the List of Heritage Registers in Bavaria.

History

In 1903, physician Dr. Wendelin Dietz inspired constructing a new look-out as the outlook from the top of the '' Ludwig Tower'' over Bad Kissingen turned out to be no longer sufficient. Dr. Dietz was the chairman of the Wittelsbacher Association, which was founded for the purpose of building the tower. This association was in favour of Bismarck and the Empire and competed in a certain way with the ''Wittelsbacher Association'', which, even after the

Unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

, regarded Bavaria to be a sovereign kingdom and built the ''

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 ...

'' in Bad Kissingen in 1914. The plans for the construction of the tower were made by Magistrate Council Carl Krampf; the lion sculpture on the top of the tower was designed by Valentin Weidner. The total costs amounted to 27,000

German gold mark The German mark (german: Goldmark ; sign: ℳ) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on th ...

s. As, in 1906, the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

was facing its 100th anniversary and in 1880, already, the 700th anniversary of the House of Wittelsbach had taken place, it was decided to name the new tower the ''Wittelsbacher Jubilee Tower''. The foundation stone was laid on 1 January 1906. The inauguration on 15 September 1907 was attended by, amongst others, Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold and the District President of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Dr. von Müller. In 1924, it was planned to install around the Tower a memorial for the Lower-Franconian victims of

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 ...

. The foundation stone ceremony took place on 15 August 1925 under the participation of Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht; the extensive plans had to be stopped, however, due to the Great Depression. The land purchased by Dr. Wendelin Dietz, where the tower was located, was first owned by Dr. Dietz's family and later by the State of Bavaria.Werner Eberth: Bismarck und Bad Kissingen. Theresienbrunnen-Verlag, Bad Kissingen 1998, p. 342f. In the 1970s, the tower was closed to the public due to deterioration but restored by the State of Bavaria well-timed to the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the House of Wittelsbach. At present, it is planned to establish the ''Erlebniswelt Saaletal '' (''Adventurous World Saale Valley'') with the ''Wittelsbacher Tower'' as its center.

The building

The ''Wittelsbacher Jubilee Tower'' has a total height of 33 metres. An observation deck is located at a height of 25 metres and, thus, approximately 245 metres above the valley of the Franconian Saale which can be viewed from the tower. A sculpture of a lion wearing a crown stands on the top of the tower. The Tower is made of

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Mid ...

limestone while the lion sculpture, the front gate, the balustrade, and

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

consist of green sandstone. In 1930, a restaurant was established adjacent to the tower. The first restaurant built in block design, however, was destroyed in 1933, probably due to arson. It was replaced the same year by a solid building. The tower has later been extensively renovated several times. Further new structures including a private brewery and a hall have also been added.

Outlook

The top of the tower allows an outlook over Bad Kissingen, the valley of the Franconian Saale as well as the

Sodenberg Sodenberg is a 481m high basalt cone (German: ''basaltkegel''), the remnant of an extinct volcanic crater, located in the Franconian Saale (German: ''Fränkische Saale''), in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia (German: ''Unterfranken''). From ...

near

Hammelburg Hammelburg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It sits in the district of Bad Kissingen, in Lower Franconia. It lies on the river Franconian Saale, 25 km west of Schweinfurt. Hammelburg is the oldest winegrowing town (''Weinstadt'') in Francon ...

External links

Entry about the Wittelsbacher Tower on the website of Bad Kissingen

* ttp://www.wittelsbacher-turm.de/turmgeschichte.html The history of the tower

References

{{coord, 50, 9, 45, N, 10, 04, 35, E, region:DE-BY_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Towers completed in 1907 Bad Kissingen Observation towers in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Bad Kissingen (district)

History

The building

Outlook

Further reading

External links

References