Gömnitzer Turm

Here you have the best overview of the Lübeck Bay and the surrounding area.

The Gömnitzer Turm (also called "Major") is a former sea mark on the top of the 93.80 m high Gömnitzer mountain near the village of Gömnitz in the Ostholstein district (municipality of Süsel). From the Gömnitz Tower, four small openings offer a view of the surrounding landscape of Holstein Switzerland and over the Bay of Lübeck.
The Gömnitzer tower is the symbol of the municipality of Süsel, whose coat of arms shows the tower.
It is a round about 8 m high (30 feet) column made of bricks on a foundation of field stones with a diameter of about 2m. The top of the tower is covered with hewn natural stones. Below the top of the tower are four small openings (light wells) - two opposite oval openings and two windows. The tower is accessible via an entrance - inside a 41-step spiral staircase leads to the top.
The tower stands on an oval plateau supported by field stones and delimited by a fence in the middle of a meadow.
Until 1815, a large tree (an oak or a beech) - called "Major" - stood on the top of the Gömnitzer Berg, which served as a landmark for the ships in the Bay of Lübeck to find the way to Lübeck. This tree was destroyed by lightning or a storm.
As this landmark was not available to seafarers for orientation, the pilot commandant in Travemünde asked the Oldenburg Duke - the sovereign of the then principality of Lübeck - to set up an artificial sea mark. ! 827 the tower was completed. It was to be demolished in 1961, but it was listed in 1969, renovated in 1983 and 1990 and has been accessible since 1993.
Info: holsteinischeschweiz.de