Hoferkopfturm

The Hoferkopfturm stands on the Hoferkopf hill above the Friedrichsthal district of Bildstock in the Saarland. It overlooks the town and the Sulzbach valley, with views stretching as far as Saarbrücken. On clear days the line of sight reaches the Vosges mountains in France. The hill itself rises gently from the surrounding landscape, giving the site a calm and open feel. The first tower was built in 1931 by the Saarwaldverein Bildstock as a wooden structure with enclosed viewing floors and a fully glazed circular gallery at the top. After forty-one years it had to be removed because mining damage made its water-tank base unsafe. A replacement went up in 1994, again in wood but in open framework, but by 2014 it had rotted beyond repair and was taken down. Today the hilltop is open grassland with a few benches and the remains of the water tank visible. A 1:12 scale model of the 1994 tower, made by local pupils, stands in the Inselgarten on Grühlingstraße. Plans exist to rebuild the lookout once more, either in wood with staggered viewing decks or in aluminium, but the project has not yet been confirmed.