Description
The Ostrowska Gate Tower is the best-preserved element of the medieval city fortifications in the Eurocity Guben-Gubin. Situated next to the remains of the gate neck and city walls, it is one of the most recognizable elements of the city. Its brick closed and free-standing structure is crowned with a toothed frieze and a conical helmet covered with sheet metal. In the face of the wall, there are tentacles and arrow slits, placed on individual storeys. It performed an observation and defense function. The tower is on the municipal and provincial (Lubulski Provincial Conservator of Monuments) list of monuments.
Historical background
The Ostrowska Gate Tower (Ger. Werder Turm) is one of the few surviving elements of the former defense system of Guben. It was built around 1530 during modernization works undertaken in 1523-1544 to strengthen all entrance gates. As the regional historian Karl Gander informs in his "Guide to Guben" from 1914, in the middle of the 16th century it was extended to the present height. In 1659, the Ostrowska Gate Tower received the first mechanical clock, which was probably placed on the level of the frieze. Contrary to most of the city's buildings, this tower withstood many wars and typical of medieval cities damages. Despite the demolition works undertaken on a city-wide scale, thanks to the resistance of the inhabitants of Gubin in 1820, the Ostrowska Gate Tower was not pulled down.
It is currently owned by the Gubin municipality and, on the basis of oral transmission, was given to the Association of Friends of the Gubin Region (pol. Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Ziemi Gubinskiej), on whose initiative in 2008-2009 unique tower clocks lost during World War II were restored. Due to the poor technical condition of the turret and stairs, as well as not meeting all the necessary conditions for making the tower accessible to visitors, it was excluded from public use.
Dąbrowskiego 13-15, 66-620 Gubin, Poland
Ostrowska Gate Tower (Ger. Werder Turm)
1530
Total height: 28,5 m
Diameter at the base: 7,78 m
Area: 24,8 m
Wall thickness: 2,75 m
Number of storeys: 7
Construction material: brick
The tower can only be viewed from the outside, e.g., standing right next to the entrance to the building where the Museum Chamber is located or standing at the Copernicus Square. The access to the traffic island on which the tower is located is impossible for road safety reasons.
