Schönbuch Tower, Observation tower in Herrenberg, Germany.
The Schönbuch Tower is a 35 m observation tower on the Stellberg hill northeast of Herrenberg. Eight spreading masts of glued local larch wood carry three platforms at heights of 10, 20 and 30 metres, braced to the foundation by a steel cable net. Two helical steel staircases with 348 steps lead up.
The idea for a tower on the Stellberg arose in a workshop of the Zukunftskreis 2020, a body of county council leaders and district administrators. In winter semester 2014/15, students at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences submitted ten tower models in a competition; the engineering firm schlaich bergermann partner then produced the design. Construction began in September 2017, and the tower opened on 9 June 2018.
The observation decks provide panoramic views of Schönbuch Nature Park, Heckengäu region, Black Forest, and Swabian Alps from different elevations.
The tower is open from sunrise to sunset and costs nothing to enter. Parking is available near the Naturfreundehaus building or the forest cemetery close by.
The tower stands on the Stellberg, a hill that is not natural: a sandstone quarry there was used as a landfill from the 1950s, filled with earth from the mid-1970s and recultivated in the 1990s as a viewpoint. The 348 stair steps were sold as sponsorships, each donor's name or dedication fixed to "their" step.
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