Eugen-Richter-Tower, observation tower in Wehringhausen, Hagen, Germany

The Eugen-Richter-Tower is a quarry-stone observation tower: a rectangular base storey carries an octagonal main body flanked by two square stair towers. It stands 23 metres tall on a ridge at 285 metres above sea level. An 84-step spiral staircase, installed later in place of an earlier stair, leads to the viewing platform.

The tower was built in 1911 to commemorate Eugen Richter, who represented the Hagen-Schwelm constituency in the Reichstag from 1874 to 1906 and sat in the Prussian House of Representatives from 1869 to 1906. Its site on a ridge opposite Hagen's Bismarck Tower was chosen to honour the liberal politician as a counterweight to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. After renovation in 1999, it reopened to visitors in 2004.

The tower's honorary hall in the base once held busts of Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein, Adolph Diesterweg, Bernhard Christoph Ludwig Natorp and Friedrich Harkort. The tower can be climbed during the opening hours of the adjacent Volkssternwarte Hagen.

You need to obtain a key from the Volkssternwarte Hagen observatory during its opening hours to enter the tower. The spiral staircase is narrow and steep, so come prepared for a bit of physical effort.

The tower is part of the Hagener Drei-Türme-Weg hiking trail and was deliberately placed opposite the Bismarckturm to express political opposition. This positioning reflects the ideological clash between liberal and conservative forces of that era.