Luisenturm

The Luisenturm stands on a steep slope above the Rhine in Ehrenbreitstein, a district of Koblenz. It is an octagonal four-storey tower built of rubble stone with black basalt detailing. The tower was designed by Karl August von Cohausen in 1856 as part of the Prussian city fortifications of Ehrenbreitstein. Its name honours Princess Luise of Prussia, commemorating her engagement in 1856. The interior once housed a cast-iron spiral staircase from a Frankfurt foundry. After military use ended in 1890, the city sold the tower in 1908 to Joseph Dornbach, whose son Hans converted it into a home and studio. The tower’s architecture mixes military and decorative elements. Round-headed windows appear on each floor, with paired windows on the third storey framed by basalt colonnettes. A projecting balcony on the second storey faces the Rhine, while the top storey is crenellated and topped by a tented roof. A Prussian eagle relief is set into the Rhine side between the second and third floors. A polygonal stair turret on the opposite side contains a neo-Gothic cast-iron spiral stair. Inside, a stone relief of the Virgin and Child salvaged from a ruined church is built into the wall. Outside, sections of the old crenellated town wall remain around the property. The garden contains baroque fountain basins, rocaille vases, scroll brackets and a lion relief, likely relics from the gardens of the 1801 demolished Schloss Philippsburg. A commemorative plaque on the tower recalls Princess Luise’s engagement. The Luisenturm was listed as a protected monument in 1987 and became part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.