Great Tower Neuwerk

The Great Tower Neuwerk is the most significant building of the Neuwerk island, belonging to Hamburg. Completed in 1310, the structure is one of the oldest worldwide that was used as lighthouse (1814–2014) and still standing. This former beacon, watchtower and lighthouse is also the oldest building in Hamburg and oldest secular building on the German coast.

The construction of the 'new werk' was started in 1300. It was completed after ten years in 1310. The style of a keep matches the common Norman tower type of the time. Contrary to some literature, the tower was built in this form from the beginning. The fire in the 1360s destroyed most of the wooden elements and it had to undergo major reconstruction.

The original roof was made of lead, and was replaced by copper in 1474. This was again replaced in 1558 by a tiled roof and by a new copper roof following that. The copper was then used for military purposes in 1916 reconstructed later.

The original purpose was to host troops to defend the ships entering and leaving the Elbe from sea and beach pirates. The tower was also refuge for the farmers on the island during storm surges and survivors of shipwrecks over the centuries.

The tower marked the most northern measuring point for the triangulation of the Kingdom of Hannover by Carl Friedrich Gauss in July 1825. Parts of this triangulation net were depicted on the back of last series of the 10 Deutsche Mark note (1989–2001).

The tower of Neuwerk is officially Hamburg's oldest building. A church in Sinstorf is actually older, but only part of Hamburg since the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937.

The tower is protected under cultural heritage management since 1924 and the surrounding dwelling hill since 1971. It is used as viewpoint, guesthouse and restaurant.

Before the tower was turned into a lighthouse in 1814, the dangerous reef and sandbank of Scharhörn was marked by multiple beacons and bearing aids, most importantly the Scharhörnbake. The most important was the bearing of wooden beacons north-west end of Neuwerk and its tower to find the smaller beacon in the open sea. The late "Nord-Bake" (destroyed 2017) showed this form of a beacon to overshadow an open fire once the ships reached this bearing.

Text adapted from “Great Tower Neuwerk” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Great Tower Neuwerk ranks #3,187 of 8,764 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #251 of the 618 mapped in Germany. Founded 1310, it is older than 63% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 649 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,423 times in the last 60 days, more than 72% of the atlas. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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