Kasseturm

The Kasseturm stands in Weimar’s old town as the last intact tower of the medieval city wall. Built around 1500, it originally had two storeys and a crenellated upper floor. The circular ground plan shows an eccentric layout because the outer and inner walls differ in thickness. The tower’s lower two floors still show its military past. The cellar once stored ammunition and equipment, while the first floor held five cannons in firing slits. After 1770, Anton Georg Hauptmann remodelled the structure to make it habitable, adding a timber-framed upper storey and a pointed roof. Today the Kasseturm serves as a lively student club. Architecture students from the Bauhaus-Universität converted it in 1962 with help from Heinz Schwarzbach and others. Inside, vaulted ceilings and spiral staircases remain, while outside the stone steps on the inner side recall its fortress origins.