Water Tower

The Wasserturm in Wels is a 16th-century water tower standing in the Zwinger, a green space between the old southern city wall and the Mühlbach stream. It was built in 1579 by master mason Wolfgang Khranlachner for the city chamber office to supply drinking and fire-fighting water. A pump installed by Augsburg fountain-master Jörg Wagner and Wels clockmaker Clement Rensch lifted water from the stream into an elevated tank that fed two fountains on the main square and a few houses via pipes. The tower’s exterior shows painted corner stones, six shuttered windows on each side decorated with trompe-l’œil architecture, and a continuous painted frieze of thirty-two Habsburg coats of arms arranged in three tiers. These heraldic panels, originally created by artist Niclas Linkh, display lands held by Maximilian II in the 16th century, including Dalmatia, Bohemia, Burgundy and the Windic March. Inside, visitors find a spiral staircase leading to the former reservoir chamber, while the surrounding Zwinger offers benches and lawns beside remnants of the city wall. A gate on the eastern side of the tower opens onto Minoritengasse, which leads to the former Minorite monastery now used as the city museum.