Krawutschke Tower

The Krawutschketurm in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Düren is a lookout tower on the m above sea level in the Rureifel between Bergstein and Zerkall located and 400.8. NHN high castle hill.

History and Description

After the vernacular was built on Castle Hill in 1911 on the ruins of the former castle Berenstein an observation tower. 1934 a new tower was inaugurated, which was named after the Eifel hikers Franz Krawutschke Krawutschketurm was called and served as a fire watchtower. He was heavily damaged in World War II (1939-1945) and was in 1945 a forest fire victim.

In 1956 there was the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for a new observation tower, which was financed by the municipality Hurtgenwald, the Eiffel club, the district of Düren, and the state of North Rhine -Westphalia, but only in 1972 was built the same name. He stands near the summit at 400.5 meters high and was inaugurated in 1973. With supports it is 13 meters (m) high. He has one above the other three platforms, at a distance of 3 m. To top platform run 76 steps.

From the beginning of July 2005 to early November 2006, the tower was closed by the local authority. Reason was a review of road safety, in which defects in load-bearing wooden elements were detected. Therefore, it was renovated for around 65,000 euros.

View options

From the observation deck of the tower offer views into the Rureifel landscape: the reservoir Obermaubach with top and Untermaubach and Düren in the north, to lie beyond the Rur Nideggen castle in the east-southeast, according to Schmidt in the Southwest, according to Bergstein and Vossenack in the west and Brandberg in the west-northwest. In good visibility the view, among other things also reaches to the Cologne Cathedral and the Hohe Acht, the highest mountain of the Eifel.