Katzenturm Feldkirch

The Katzenturm is a round defensive tower built in 1507 as part of Feldkirch’s town wall in Vorarlberg. It stands forty metres high with a circumference of thirty-eight metres and was raised after the Swabian War. The tower’s name comes from cannons once mounted there, their sights shaped like cats’ and lions’ heads. It formed part of a larger fortification begun in 1491 under King Maximilian I and Vogt Hans von Königsegg. The structure originally had only a cylindrical shaft topped by battlements before further changes were made. The tower became a bell tower in the seventeenth century when its battlements were removed and a bell chamber added. In 1665 the great ‘Rochus’ bell, weighing over five tonnes, was installed because the city churches were too small. The bell has been recast three times after damage, most recently in 2010 when a new oak yoke and a 450-kilogram clapper were fitted. Bishop Sigismund Waitz prevented its removal for scrap metal during the First World War. Today it rings on Good Friday at three o’clock and during the Ardetzenberg grape harvest. Visitors find an eight-storey tower with a spiral staircase leading to the bell chamber. The chamber houses the largest bell in Vorarlberg and the second-largest historical bell in Austria. Outside, the surrounding town wall and nearby Arlberg massif provide views across Feldkirch. The tower’s thick stone walls and the heavy wooden bell frame show its long history of use and repair.