Columbarium (Cochem)

A three-storey tower of grey-wacke quarry stone stands on Oberer Weg in Cochem. Built between 1889 and 1890 to plans by master bricklayer Johann Wiss, it was commissioned by Carl Joseph Friedrichs. Friedrichs had made his fortune in the Montana gold rush before returning to Germany. The inscription on the front reads ‘Columbarium erbaut 1889 von C.J. Friedrichs Cond.’ A copper-plate hand, gilded for protection, crowns the roof.

The tower’s history is tied to a debt and a marriage. After his first wife Betty divorced him, Friedrichs had to pay her 90,000 marks for property she later sold. Near her new villa he built this tower in 1889–90. Inside once stood a Carrara marble statue of Christ, later moved to a chapel in St Remaclus Church. The hand was removed around 1932 and the roof lost in the 1960s.

Visitors find a solid stone tower with a restored slate pyramid roof. The copper hand gleams again at the top after recent repairs. Inside, only the bare walls remain, but the inscription and the hand recall the story of gold, debt and marriage. The surrounding street is quiet, with views across the town to the Mosel.