Müggel-Tower, Observation tower in Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin, Germany
The Müggelturm is a 29.61-metre reinforced concrete observation tower on the Kleiner Müggelberg, south of the Müggelsee in Berlin-Köpenick. It has nine storeys with panorama windows, and its flat roof slab, carried on short pillars, forms an open viewing deck reached by 126 steps. A thin antenna mast rises from the roof.
Carl Spindler built a 10 m wooden lookout here around 1880; in 1889 Max Jacob extended it into a 27 m pagoda-style tower that opened at Easter 1890 and drew some 52,000 visitors that year. It burned down on 19 May 1958 during renovation welding work. A Berliner Zeitung competition drew 32 designs; the winning student collective from Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee saw its plan built, with the foundation stone laid on 6 October 1959 and the tower opened on 31 December 1961.
The name Müggelturm was already used for the wooden lookout tower that stood here from 1890. The present tower, opened on 31 December 1961, was funded partly by public donations and voluntary work under East Germany's Nationales Aufbauwerk: 130,000 marks and 3,700 hours were contributed. Its restaurant, wine tavern and sun terraces continue the site's long tradition as an excursion destination.
The tower is accessible during daylight hours and offers viewing platforms on several levels that can be reached without an elevator. Visitors should be prepared to climb stairs to reach the upper heights.
The 1961 tower was funded partly by public donations: 130,000 Marks and 3,700 hours of volunteer work under the GDR's Nationales Aufbauwerk. A student collective from the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee led by Jörg Streitparth, Siegfried Wagner and Klaus Weißhaupt won the 1958 competition with 32 entries; an oval plan was dropped for the square form to save money.
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