Lappan Tower (Oldenburg)

Lappan
The Lappan was originally a retirement and nursing home with a chapel for the poor, which was built in the middle of the 14th century. It was first mentioned in January 1351 as the "Heiliggeist-Haus" and is therefore considered the oldest building from the Middle Ages in Oldenburg. The Order of the Brothers of the Holy Spirit made a significant contribution to the development of the hospital system. In 1467/68 the chapel received the distinctive Gothic brick tower, which still stands on the northern edge of the city center in the direction of Brunneneck (known locally as Lefferseck). Oldenburg's first church tower
Because the St. Lamberti Church only had a low bell house at the time, the 35-meter-high tower of the Lappan is considered the city's first church tower (the height of the brick substructure is approx. 16 m. This means that the roof is higher than the substructure). After the Reformation, the chapel was secularized and used as living space from then on. At that time, the Lappan was the name given to the outbuildings that were connected to the main building. In 1909, the Lappan was restored and given its current appearance. The bell hanging in the Lappan Tower has been hanging there since 1731. Its inscription reads "God let my sound go out to the honor of his name and for the good of this city." Today, only the tower is referred to as the Lappan. The adjacent building has housed the tourist information office for the city of Oldenburg since 2018. The audio piece on the history of the Lappan
There is a lot to tell about the Lappan. The audio piece on the history of the Lappan is not just a piece about the building, but also illustrates what has happened in around 670 years of Oldenburg's city history. It takes you on a journey through the centuries. Anna and Alex are the two characters, two "tour guides" who not only tell you everything about the Lappan, but also introduce you to one or two important personalities who had something to do with the tower. (Source: oldenburg-tourismus.de/a-lappan)

Today the Lappan serves as a tourist information center.

VenueThe Lappan was already being used for events with a national impact around 1900. In February and March 1911, court art dealer Karl G. Oncken and city architect Adolf Rauchheld hosted Oldenburg's first architecture exhibition on the theme of "country house", in which around 40 artists exhibited designs and models, including nationally and internationally known architects (e.g. the Berlin studio of Peter Behrens, Fritz Schumacher from Hamburg, Wilhelm Kreis from Düsseldorf, Emil Högg from Bremen, Gustav Schmoll called Eisenwerth from Munich, Hendrik Petrus Berlage from Amsterdam and Samuel de Clerq from The Hague).