The Lookout tower with a plot

Bismarck’s Tower in Świdwin is a lookout tower. The building was created at the initiative of the local Association of Beautification. It is located on a hill, on the outskirts of the town park. Sources indicate that 300 Deutsche marks were spent on its construction. The construction works commenced on the 1st of April 1911 by embedding the foundation stone. The tower was made of granite (the wall was made of crushed stone) and brick (cross-linking), while the blind ceilings and the elements of the spiral staircase and balconies were made of concrete. It was made by a local bricklayer master and architect – Franz Brewing. The building was completed on the 17th of September 1911. The tower is 22 m high, while the plinth itself is 3.3 m high. The plinth is based on the substructure. In all the walls of the plinth there are entrances to the tower. The core of the tower tapers upwards. In its central part there is a high opening finished with a semi-circular full arch. The opening is secured with a handrail. Above the opening there is a window equipped in two reinforcements. Above the window there is also a balcony. Inside the tower there are stairs by which you can get to all balconies and to the attic. The top of the tower is topped with a superstructure in which there are four small windows. At the top of the tower a metal frame (in which there is a fired boiler) was installed in the ventilation system. The tower was used as an observatory point up until the 20’s of the 20th century. Due to its poor technical condition it is prohibited to enter the tower. Then the metal fired boiler was replaced with a copper one. Today there is no boiler in the tower – only the frame remains. They tried to renovate the tower, however in 1992 all four entrances on the ground floor of the building were bricked up. Currently the tower is in a very poor condition. The majority of window lintels and the roof require replacing. Inside some stairs are missing, and there are no handrails on the balconies. Bismarck’s Tower in Świdwin is one of four remaining Bismarck’s Towers in the Pomerania, several remaining in Poland and several dozen built in our country. The towers were built between 1869 and 1934. They were structures in the shape of a tower or a column built to honour the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. They built the towers with places to make a fire in order to honour the achievements of Bismarck several times each year. Regarding the renovation of the monument of Bismarck in Nakomiady, the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites opposed the commemoration of Bismarck. It was caused by the fact that according to the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a huge germanization supporter of the Polish lands. Germanization manifestation included among others so called Prussian deportations - mass deportations of Poles and Jews from Prussia. They were conducted inhumanely and on the basis of ethnic discrimination. Today they are associated in Poland as a manifestation of anti-Polish policy of the Chancellor Bismarck.