Towers #1of3

There are perhaps a hundred thousand towers in Europe, ranging in size from 10 to 1500 feet — city walls and city halls, cathedrals, bell towers, and castles. For most, travel time and common sense, says, “Just look, don’t climb.” The variety of architecture, style, and height, is beyond portrayal.

Chateau Chambord, in the French Loire River Valley, was built in the 1500’s with so many pointed, roofed towers, it looks like a roofers nightmare, or rather a roofers retirement plan.

In Lucca, Italy, the top of Torre Guinigi (tower) is only about 20 feet square, but there are a couple of full grown trees, and a few square yards of grass, with a sprinkler head.

Carcassonne, France, called “Le Cite,” is a 700 year-old fortified city on top of a hill, with a double wall (50 yards apart) and 52 guard towers, while the town of Sulzfeld, Germany, is a pretty town on a gentle slope above the Main River, with a wall and 21 small, well kept towers, some that look lived in.

Talk about contrast. Just east of Paris, the towers of Euro-Disneyland are bright and shiny new, while the Tour de Vésone (100AD), in Perigueux, France, and the 800 stone towers on the Máni peninsula in Greece, date from ancient times.

In Merzig, Germany, a bell tower has jokingly been given the name “der Fahrstuhl ist ausser Betrieb” or “the elevator is out of order.” There are two slabs of concrete, several stories high, with a small room near the top to hold the bells — much like an stuck at the top of an shaft.

Another of many contrasts are the dozens of towers in the town of Vathia, Greece, that have been converted into a tourist hotel, versus the 325-feet Campanile, at St. Mark’s in Venice — built in the 900s, collapsed in 1902, rebuilt in 1912. An old photo in a book, and our recent photos, show no difference.

A unique tower use occurs at Saarbrücken, Germany. A net of large cables, stretched between towers, was placed across the Autobahn so radio waves from a nearby radio station, would not disturb a pacemaker worn by someone who drives by.

In Bologna, Italy, two towers that were never finished (Torre Asinelli, 330 feet high, and Torre Garisenda 165 feet high) were purposely built at slight angles to each other. Examples of the many purposely built leaning towers in Italy.