Stadtturm

The Stadtturm stands in Backnang, a town in the Rems-Murr district of Baden-Württemberg. It is the last remnant of the 17th-century town church of St Michael, which was destroyed in 1693. The tower’s core is the old choir tower of the 13th-century parish church, supported by buttresses. The upper two octagonal storeys were added in 1614 to designs by Heinrich Schickhardt. After the church burned down in 1693, only the tower and outer walls survived. In 1699 it gained a new timber-framed storey and a bell-capped roof with lantern. A railed viewing platform was added in 1784–85. The ruined nave was finally cleared in 1824 and replaced by a three-storey timber-framed schoolhouse. Today the tower still serves as a bell tower and lookout. Visitors climb past the buttresses to the platform for views over the town.