Great Tower Neuwerk
Great Tower Neuwerk
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| Location | Neuwerk, German Bight |
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| Coordinates | 53°54′54.8″N 8°29′45″E / 53.915222°N 8.49583°ECoordinates: 53°54′54.8″N 8°29′45″E / 53.915222°N 8.49583°E |
| Year first constructed | 1310 (first) |
| Year first lit | 1814 |
| Deactivated | 2014 |
| Construction | brick tower |
| Tower shape | square prism tower with lantern placed at the centre of a square pyramidal roof |
| Markings / pattern | red brick, greenish lantern |
| Height | 39 metres (128 ft) |
| Focal height | 38 metres (125 ft) |
| Range | 16 nautical miles (30 km) |
| Characteristic | until February 2014: Blk.(3) w.r.gn. 20 s now: F. |
| Admiralty number | B 1344 |
| NGA number | 10436 |
| ARLHS number | FED-165 |
| Managing agent | Nationalpark Hamburgisches Wattenmeer |
The Great Tower Neuwerk is the most significant building of the Neuwerk island, belonging to Hamburg. This former beacon, watchtower and lighthouse is also the oldest building in Hamburg and oldest secular building on the German coast.
The construction of the 'new werk' was started in 1300. It was completed after ten years in 1310. The style of a keep matches the common norman tower type of the time. Contrary to some literature, the tower was built in this form from the beginning. The fire in the 1360s destroyed most of the wooden elements and it had to undergo major reconstruction.
The original roof was made of lead, and was replaced by copper in 1474. This was again replaced in 1558 by a tiled roof and by a new copper roof following that. The copper was then used for military purposes in 1916 reconstructed later.
The original purpose was to host troops to defend the ships entering and leaving the Elbe from sea and beach pirates. The tower was also refuge for the farmers on the island during storm surges and survivors of shipwrecks over the centuries.
The tower marked the most northern measuring point for the triangulation of the Kingdom of Hannover by Carl Friedrich Gauss in July 1825. Parts of this triangulation net were depicted on the back of last series of the 10 Deutsche Mark note (1989–2001).
The tower of Neuwerk is officially Hamburgs oldest building. A church in Sinstorf is actually older, but only part of Hamburg since the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937.
The tower is protected under cultural heritage management since 1924 and the surrounding dwelling hill since 1971. It is used as viewpoint, guesthouse and restaurant.
Before the tower was turned into a lighthouse in 1814, the dangerous reef and sandbank of Scharhörn was marked by multiple beacons and bearing aids. The most important was the bearing of wooden beacons north-west end of Neuwerk and its tower to find the smaller beacon in the open sea. Today's "Nord-Bake" still shows the form of a beacon to overshadow an open fire once the ships reached this bearing. The Carta Marina shows a fire beacon on "Nuge uirk" as early as 1539, but other sources mention the open coal fire beacon not until 1644: It was a navigational aid during night time. This required 1000 tons of imported Scottish coal a year starting from 1761. This coal contained more bitumen and burned much brighter than the usual German hard coal.
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Wikipedia