A powder tower (German: Pulverturm), occasionally also powder house (Pulverhaus), was a building used by the military or by mining companies, frequently a tower, to store gunpowder or, later, explosives. They were common until the 20th century, but were increasingly succeeded by gunpowder magazines and ammunition depots. The explosion of a powder tower could be catastrophic as, for example, in the Delft Explosion of 1654.
List of powder towers
Buildings formerly used as powder towers include the following:
Germany
These are sorted by states of Germany, since there are so many.
Baden-Württemberg
- Pulverturm, Leutkirch im Allgäu
- Pulverturm, Vellberg
Bavaria
- Pulverturm, Bad Reichenhall
- Pulverturm, Burghausen
- Färberturm, Gunzenhausen
- Pulverturm, Lindau
- Pulverturm, Memmingen
- Pulverturm, Munich
- Pulverturm, Ochsenfurt
- Pulverturm, Straubing
Brandenburg
Bremen
- Bremer Pulvertürme
Lower Saxony
- Pulverturm, Bad Bentheim
- Knochenturm in Einbeck
- Pulverturm, Hameln
- Pulverturm Lingen, Ems
- Pulverturm, Oldenburg
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Pulverturm, Anklam
The Pulverturm, Demmin, bears the name, but was probably not used for this purpose.
North Rhine-Westphalia
- Langer Turm, Aachen
- Pulvertürmchen in Aachen
- Pulverturm, Meschede
- Buddenturm in Münster
- Pulverturm, Rheinberg
- Pulverturm, Wiedenbrück
Rhineland-Palatinate
- Pulverturm, Andernach
- Pulverturm, Linz am Rhein
- Pulverturm, Mainz
Saxony
- Pulverturm, Johanngeorgenstadt
- Pulverturm in Zwickau
Saxony-Anhalt
- Pulverturm, Quedlinburg
Thuringia
- Pulverturm, Greiz
- Pulverturm, Jena
Austria
- Pulverturm, Krems
Czechia
- Powder Tower, Prague (Prašná brána)
Italy
- Pulverturm, Schlanders
Latvia
- Powder Tower, Riga (Pulvertornis)
Namibia
- Powder Tower, Otjimbingwe, Namibia
Switzerland
- Malteserturm in Chur
- Pulverturm, Merano
- Pulverturm, Zofingen
USA
Gallery
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The Powder Tower in Prague -
Pulverturm in Oldenburg with remains of the old town wall -
Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, exterior view -
Pulverturm in Landsberg am Lech -
Pulverturm in Lindau -
Pulverturm in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate -
Pulverturm in Riga -
Pulverturm in Memmingen -
Langer Turm in Aachen -
Pulverturm in Linz am Rhein -
Pulverturm in Rottenburg/Neckar -
Pulverturm in Johanngeorgenstadt -
Pulverturm in Otjimbingwe, Namibia -
Pulverturm in Zofingen -
Pulverturm in Zwickau
Literature
- Adolf Weinbrenner: Pulvermagazin, in Otto Lueger (ed.): Lexikon der gesamten Technik und ihrer Hilfswissenschaften, Vol. 7 Stuttgart, Leipzig 1909, pp. 274–275; digitalised at zeno.org
- Brewer, Ted (1999). Czech and Slovak Republics Guide. Londres: Open Road Publishing.
- Legal, Claus; Legal, Gert (2020). Friedrich II. von Preußen und Quintus Icilius: Der König und der Obrist. Munique: utzverlag GmbH.
- Prokopovych, Markian (2009). Habsburg Lemberg: Architecture, Public Space, and Politics in the Galician Capital, 1772-1914. Lafaiete Oeste, Indiana: Imprensa da Universidade de Purdue.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to powder towers.
Look up powder tower in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
This page was last edited on 25 February 2024, at 06:37