Nonnenturm

The Nonnenturm stands in Dülmen, a town in the Münster region, as the last remaining square tower of the old town’s defences. Built in the 16th century as a gunpowder store, it once formed part of a larger wall that circled the town. Two short stretches of that wall still run beside the tower, showing how the defences once enclosed the whole settlement. After falling into disrepair in the 17th century, the tower passed into private hands in 1730 and changed owners several times. In 1953 it was rebuilt for a new use, and again restored in 1982. The name Nonnenturm recalls the nearby Augustinian convent of Agnetenberg, closed long ago, where the mystic Anna Katharina Emmerick once lived. The tower’s square shape and thick walls mark it as part of Dülmen’s military past. Though no longer used for gunpowder, it survives as a reminder of the town’s fortified history. Its four storeys now form part of a private dwelling, yet the old stonework keeps the memory of the 16th-century builders. Visitors see the tower’s plain square form rising beside the surviving wall fragments. The brickwork shows repairs from the 20th century, yet the original 16th-century core remains clear. Inside, the space is divided into modern rooms, so the medieval structure now shelters a home. From the street the tower stands close to the Lüdinghauser Tor, another fragment of Dülmen’s vanished defences. Its quiet corner of the town offers a quiet glimpse of how the place was once guarded.