Bismarck Tower in Żagań - an observation tower built in 1908–1909 in Żagań.
The tower was built according to the design of the architect Carl Stahlberg from Jelenia Góra. The cornerstone was laid on July 30, 1908. The construction was entrusted to master builders Bernikau and Engel. The opening took place on June 27, 1909. The 20 m high building was made of erratic boulders and granite. On the ground floor there was a hall in honor of Otto von Bismarck. The building has survived to this day. It was renovated in 2002.
Bismarck Towers (German: Bismarckturm) - built in the years 1869–1934 (the first tower was built in Lower Silesia [1], near the village of Ober-Johnsdorf, today Janówek) simple buildings in the shape of a tower or column, praising Otto von Bismarck and expressing German pride national. The first buildings of this type were built during Bismarck's lifetime, and the last tower was commissioned in 1926 in Polanów[2].
Bismarck's 174 towers and columns stand in what is now Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Austria, Cameroon, Tanzania and Chile. Another 66 of these structures, including those erected in present-day Denmark and Papua New Guinea, no longer exist.[3]
Of these 240 towers built around the world (in German communities), approximately 50 were the result of an official competition for the design of such a building, announced in 1899 by the German Student Union. The aim of the competition was to codify and possibly unify the design of the towers, giving them a symbolic, simple and massive character.
In 1899, the competition for the design of the Bismarck Tower was won by Dresden architect Wilhelm Kreis with his work entitled Twilight of the Gods (Götterdämmerung). In his design (though not often copied by other artists), the tower has a multi-stage base, four columns and a superstructure in the form of a fire bowl. Towers of this type are sometimes called Bismarck's Columns; of them, one was preserved in Poland after the war, on the Tower in Sobótka.
After the uprising, it was also agreed that a fire would be lit in the towers in honor of Bismarck several times a year. Such celebrations took place on the anniversaries of the patron's birth and death and on other holidays, such as the summer solstice. This custom has survived in a rudimentary state in Germany to this day. However, it was never possible to light a fire on all towers at the same time. The reason was the impossibility of agreeing on a common date due to different periods of breaks in classes at universities.
In what is now Poland, 17 of the original 40 certain or probable Bismarck towers have been preserved (sometimes it is impossible to find documents confirming that a given tower was originally a "Bismarck tower"). Some sources give the number of 19 preserved towers[4]. Some Bismarck towers are attributed to places other than where they actually are, e.g. the tower on Wielka Sowa, according to the official terminology, is located in Dzierżoniów, several kilometers away; it is also assigned to Pieszyce and the Pieszyce commune has renovated the facility, made it available to tourists again and is in charge of servicing the tower on Wielka Sowa. The tower is active and serves as an observation tower with a beautiful panorama of the Sudetes and the surrounding area.
In connection with the renovation of the Bismarck monument in Nakomiady, the Council for the Protection of Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom spoke out against commemorating Bismarck.
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