Roter Turm

The Rote Turm once stood at today’s Taubenmarkt in Crimmitschau. Built in the 14th to 15th century, it served as a prison and archive in the Middle Ages. The name comes from the Middle High German word for law, not from its colour, which changed over time. Its height reached 23.85 metres, topped by a 3-metre weather vane weighing 150 kilograms added in 1904. The tower’s square shape and thick walls—up to 1.75 metres at the base—remained unchanged since construction. Archaeologists found two broken pots, an iron piece and animal bones inside a cavity, placed there as building sacrifices when the tower was erected. Visitors see a modest square tower with a plain roof where once a crenellated parapet and a pointed spire stood. The nearby Zwick’sches Tor was removed in 1824. A small bell called the Betglöckchen once rang each morning and evening, a custom recorded in 1682. The site marks a place where medieval justice and local history meet.