Chemnitz Towers
Dr Stefan Thiele, the curator of the Schloßberg Museum, talks about the special features of Chemnitz towers and other tall buildings in a series published in the official gazette from August 2023:
The history of a city is reflected in its buildings. Churches, monasteries, castles, palaces, town halls and town houses, fortifications, schools, transport structures and industrial plants are still characteristic testimonies to centuries of development. Unlike comparable towns, only a few buildings in Chemnitz have survived to bear witness to the city's almost nine-hundred-year history.
Changes and losses to the historic building stock have occurred time and again. The overbuilding of the old city structure in the sense of a Gründerzeit city centre at the end of the 19th century, the destruction in 1945, the subsequent rebuilding of the centre between 1950 and 1975 and the construction work that has not yet been completed since 1990 had a particularly serious impact.
The High Tower | Jakobikirchturm
The High Tower or Jakobikirchturm rises between St James' Church and the Old Town Hall - one of the oldest buildings in the city and its landmark for centuries. more
The chimney at the combined heat and power plant
Although not a tower in the true sense of the word, the chimney of the northern combined heat and power plant is an eye-catcher visible from afar and one of Chemnitz's most popular landmarks. more
The Schubert & Salzer clock tower
The clock tower of the Schubert & Salzer company on Annaberger Straße is just one of the buildings created by Erich Basarke (1878-1941) that still characterise the cityscape today. more
The Red Tower
While today the "Red Tower" is first associated with the idea of a city centre shopping mall, it occupied a dominant position in the Middle Ages. more
The hotel tower block
When the city centre was rebuilt after the destruction of the Second World War, the Interhotel "Kongreß" was built thanks to the work of Rudolf Weißer and his collective.
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The castle church
The history of the town began a good eight centuries ago on a spur of land above the river called "Chemnitz" with the founding of the Benedictine monastery of St Mary.
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The Bismarck Tower
After a bronze statue had already been inaugurated on Chemnitz market square in 1899, the desire for a monumental Bismarck Tower arose shortly afterwards.
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