Luzern CH - Wasserturm mit Kapellbrücke 12
The water tower in the middle of the chapel bridge is part of the historic city fortification of Lucerne and is considered a landmark of the city.

The 35-metre-high octagonal and slightly leaning tower complements the city fortification towards the lake. Its construction time cannot be determined with certainty, but certainly after 1262, so even before the chapel bridge built. It has long served as a defensive and watchtower, as well as a cornerstone of the city's fortification. Over the years, he was a city archive, treasury, dungeon and torture chamber.

It is mentioned for the first time in 1367. The existing roof chair dates back to 1339. Since 1939 the tower has been rented to the Lucerne Artillery Association. The tower is rarely open to the public, usually only in summer.

On the lower floor of the tower is a dungeon. Its walls are three meters thick, there are neither windows nor doors. Access is only possible via an opening in the floor of the room above. The dungeon was probably used as a prison until 1759 and then abandoned. On the first floor is the so-called treasury. It served as a prison and as an interrogation and torture chamber until 1759. From 1759 to 1798 the state treasure was kept here, from 1798 to 1803 the room served again as a prison and from 1804 to keep the securities of the community. The second upper floor was until 1759 the place of storage of the Lucerne State Treasury and the State Archives.

When it was discovered in 1758 that money had been stolen for years, it was converted into a prison (until 1802). From 1804 to 1919 he again housed the municipal archive. The striking stork nest on the top of the tower has not been used for over 100 years. The 15-metre-high attic served as an interrogation and torture chamber. Since 1892 alpine sailors have been breeding here in a colony, which is supervised by the Ornithological Society of the City of Lucerne (OGL), since 1959 on behalf of the City Council of Lucerne. The Alpine sailing colony in the water tower is the largest Alpine swift &quot;Tachymarptis melba&quot; colony in central Switzerland.
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