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Göttingen
phone:
+49 551 7899927
Göttingen
phone:
+49 551 7899927
The Westerturm is the last preserved gate-tower of the former town fortification; there were at least eight in the past. The tower, already mentioned in the year 1343, burned down in 1424. Rebuilding the tower took 12 years.
Towards the town a medieval plaque remembered the devastating town fire from 1424, whereby half of the city was affected.
Following the fire, the building of the stone tower started. The spire was completed only in 1506.
The turning of the Spire
The are quite a number of turned towers in the German-speaking area but non that displays such a harmonically specific alignment as the Duderstadt Westerturm. In 1948 a well-known architect tried to find the cause for the peculiar turning.
He talked of the 'superior virtuoso and the reffinement of craftsmanship of medieval master builders' and closed with the statement: ' this tower is obviously meant to be this way'.
A year later another architect who climbed the tower declared after a thorough examination: The peculiar form change arose from a construction mistake whereby the rafters were secured against inside defection but not to the side. The blades and usual diagonal crosses were missing. Also the so-called emperor-shaft persisting.
The Legend
In the colloquial language it is said that the turning of the spire goes back to the not oiled weathervane respectively the devil, which tempted men into drink. Taking flight from the Duderstädter women he tried to cling to the tower knob and in doing so he swung the spire around before he finally vanished over the wall.
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