Ferberturm

The Ferberturm is a 21-metre-high observation tower standing on the Ronneburger Höhe in Gera, Thuringia. It crowns the city’s highest point, 300 metres above sea level and 124 metres above the town itself. The round tower was built between 1874 and 1875 by Dr Moritz Rudolf Ferber, a local merchant and mineralogist. Beside it he erected a small ruin-shaped lodge that served as the keeper’s quarters. Quarried blocks of Leumnitzer Zechstein limestone form the tower’s walls. The building cost 15,800 marks and was handed to the city on 5 February 1876. Gottlieb Krieg, nicknamed ‘Kriegs Gottlieb’, became the first keeper and was known for his rough manner. In 1946–47 the ruin lodge was enlarged to house a restaurant, and in 1989 the tower itself was restored. Today the protected tower and its attached inn remain popular destinations for day-trippers. Visitors climb the spiral staircase inside the Ferberturm for wide views across Gera and the surrounding countryside. The attached lodge now serves food and drink, and the stonework of the ruin blends with the tower’s historic fabric. The site is still reached by the same path that led guests up the hill in the 19th century.