The Bismarck Tower in Janówek,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, is a historical observation tower and cultural heritage site on top of the Jańska Góra hill, 253 m above sea level. It was erected in 1869 as the world's first

Bismarck tower A Bismarck tower () 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 by Kloss and Seele i ...

. The tower itself is 23 m in height.

History

The idea of erecting a monument to

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

had been mooted as far back as 1863 by retired Prussian officer Friedrich Schröter (1820–1888), a wealthy landowner in nearby Wättrisch (Sokolniki) and an admirer of the Iron Chancellor. Following the Prussian victories in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig–Holstein question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 Februar ...

(1864) and the Seven Weeks War (1866), Schröter then set about realising his plans. A site was picked for construction of the tower: the south face of Johnsberg Hill near the neighbouring village of Ober-Johnsdorf, part of which was owned by Schröter (1,100 acres). Construction began on 15 April 1869, carried out by master mason Bernhardt from Nimptsch (Niemcza) under the supervision of a foreman named Rademacher. Serpentine from a local quarry was used as construction material, as well as

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and brickwork. Total cost of construction was 18,000 marks. The tower was inaugurated on 18 October 1869. Over the entrance were inscribed in golden letters the words "IN HONOUR OF BISMARCK - 1869". The ground floor housed two marble slabs, one commemorating the wars of 1864 and 1866, the other the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

in 1870. The following year the tower and its surrounding park was opened to the public. The keys to the tower could be rented from the owner in Wättrisch. It was used as an observation deck and recreational centre; in 1910 there was even a wooden

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

Contemporary situation

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the lower part of the tower sustained damage from an artillery shell. Following Germany's surrender, the village was transferred to Poland in accordance with the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

and renamed Janówek. The tower was largely neglected from 1945 onwards. In May 1992, the marble slabs were removed and all references to Bismarck, who had particularly strong

anti-Polish sentiment Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism () or anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These include ethnic prejudic ...

and even called for the extermination of Poles, were erased. By August 2002 the tower was in ruins, although it was still possible to ascend the stairs to the central chamber. The structure is currently in severe need of restoration, and is mostly obscured by the surrounding trees. It was listed as a protected building by the Polish authorities in June 2003.

References

External links

Bismarck tower in Ober-Johnsdorf (Janówek) (in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bismarck Tower, Janowek Janowek Buildings and structures in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Monuments and memorials in Poland Prussian cultural sites Towers in Poland