As of: March 10, 2024, 9:13 a.m
By: Momir Takac
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There is a leaning tower in Lower Saxony that dwarfs its counterpart in Pisa.
For a while he even held the world record title.
Suurhusen – When you think of leaning towers, you inevitably end up with the
Leaning Tower of Pisa
.
The landmark of the city in Tuscany is probably the most famous leaning building in the world.
But there are even more leaning towers.
Two of them are in Germany, one in Lower Saxony.
The Leaning Tower of Suurhusen has an inclination of 5.19 degrees.
© IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Ralf Nöhmer
More precisely in East Frisia.
In the Suurhusen
district
of the municipality of Hinte in the Aurich district, which has a population of over 7,000, there is a
church tower
that made it into
the Guinness Book of Records
in 2007 .
Since then, it has been listed as the record holder for unintentionally leaning buildings.
A flea market in Elisabethfehn, around 60 kilometers away, also holds a record.
For many years, the tower in Suurhusen, Lower Saxony, was considered the most leaning tower in the world
The
church tower in Suurhusen
has an
inclination of 5.19 degrees
.
This even surpasses the Campanile of Pisa.
This is only 3.97 degrees - but after structural measures.
Until the renovation work to secure it began around 1990, the tower was inclined at 5.5 degrees.
The old church in Suurhusen was built in the first half of the 13th century.
Huge oak trunks that stood in groundwater served as the foundation.
At first there was no tower.
This was only added in 1450.
To do this, the nave of the church had to be shortened by around a quarter of its length.
The world record award goes to Gau-Weinheim in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2022
The
Suurhus church tower
is 27.37 meters high.
The overhang at the roof ridge is 2.47 meters, other sources say 2.43 meters.
Subsidence was first noticed in 1885, and in 1925 the overhang was estimated at 1.13 meters.
Until 1996, this increased continuously to the level that still applies today.
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The church tower in Suurhusen is more inclined than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
© IMAGO / Pond5 Images
The reason given for the increasing slope is a drop in the groundwater level.
As a result, the oak trunks rotted and could no longer support the weight of the tower.
In the 1970s the church was on the verge of collapse due to a lack of money.
In 1982, extensive renovation work began.
The ceremonial reopening followed in October 1985 after ten years of closure.
Oberkirche in Bad Frankenhausen has the largest overhang of all German towers
In September 2022, the tower in Suurhusen lost its record title.
Because elsewhere in Germany there is a building that tilts by exactly 5.4277 degrees.
The Record Institute for Germany, the German counterpart of the Guinness World Records Limited, determined this value for the
tower next to the church in Gau-Weinheim
.
The 600-inhabitant community is located in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate.
According to the Record Institute for Germany, the Gau-Weinheim tower in Rhineland-Palatinate is considered the “leanest tower in the world”.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Boris Roessler
There are other record-breaking towers in Germany.
Also in Rhineland-Palatinate is the
Leaning Tower of Dausenau
with a slope of 5.22.
However, the value has not been recognized by the Guinness Book editors.
The reason: the tower is a ruin.
The title for Germany's highest lighthouse is clear.
In Bad Frankenhausen in the Kyffhäuser district in Thuringia there is a church that, at 4.6 meters, has the largest overhang of all German towers.
The 56 meter high tower of the upper church
is inclined by 4.93 degrees from the vertical
.
Did you know that the oldest daily newspaper in the world also comes from Lower Saxony?
(mt)