Powder tower

Tower designed to store gunpowder

A powder tower (German: Pulverturm), occasionally also powder house (Pulverhaus), was a building used by the military or by mining companies, frequently a tower, to store gunpowder or, later, explosives. They were common until the 20th century, but were increasingly succeeded by gunpowder magazines and ammunition depots. The explosion of a powder tower could be catastrophic as, for example, in the Delft Explosion of 1654.

List of powder towers

Buildings formerly used as powder towers include the following:

Germany

These are sorted by states of Germany, since there are so many.

Baden-Württemberg

Pulverturm, Leutkirch im Allgäu
Pulverturm, Vellberg

Bavaria

Pulverturm, Bad Reichenhall
Pulverturm, Burghausen
Färberturm, Gunzenhausen
Pulverturm, Lindau
Pulverturm, Memmingen
Pulverturm, Munich
Pulverturm, Ochsenfurt
Pulverturm, Straubing

Brandenburg

Pulverturm, Templin

Bremen

Bremer Pulvertürme [de]

Lower Saxony

Pulverturm, Bad Bentheim
Knochenturm in Einbeck
Pulverturm, Hameln
Pulverturm Lingen, Ems
Pulverturm, Oldenburg

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Pulverturm, Anklam

The Pulverturm, Demmin, bears the name, but was probably not used for this purpose.

North Rhine-Westphalia

Langer Turm, Aachen
Pulvertürmchen in Aachen
Pulverturm, Meschede
Buddenturm in Münster
Pulverturm, Rheinberg
Pulverturm, Wiedenbrück

Rhineland-Palatinate

Pulverturm, Andernach
Pulverturm, Linz am Rhein
Pulverturm, Mainz

Saxony

Pulverturm, Johanngeorgenstadt
Pulverturm in Zwickau

Saxony-Anhalt

Pulverturm, Quedlinburg

Thuringia

Pulverturm, Greiz
Pulverturm, Jena

Austria

Pulverturm, Krems

Czechia

Powder Tower, Prague (Prašná brána)

Italy

Pulverturm, Schlanders

Latvia

Powder Tower, Riga (Pulvertornis)

Namibia

Powder Tower, Otjimbingwe, Namibia

Switzerland

Malteserturm in Chur
Pulverturm, Merano

Pulverturm, Zofingen

USA

Powder House (Dedham, Massachusetts)

Gallery

The Powder Tower in Prague
Pulverturm in Oldenburg with remains of the old town wall
Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, exterior view
Pulverturm in Landsberg am Lech
Pulverturm in Lindau
Pulverturm in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate
Pulverturm in Riga
Pulverturm in Memmingen
Langer Turm in Aachen
Pulverturm in Linz am Rhein
Pulverturm in Rottenburg/Neckar
Pulverturm in Johanngeorgenstadt
Pulverturm in Otjimbingwe, Namibia
Pulverturm in Zofingen
Pulverturm in Zwickau

Literature

Adolf Weinbrenner: Pulvermagazin, in Otto Lueger (ed.): Lexikon der gesamten Technik und ihrer Hilfswissenschaften, Vol. 7 Stuttgart, Leipzig 1909, pp. 274–275; digitalised at zeno.org
Brewer, Ted (1999). Czech and Slovak Republics Guide. Londres: Open Road Publishing.
Legal, Claus; Legal, Gert (2020). Friedrich II. von Preußen und Quintus Icilius: Der König und der Obrist. Munique: utzverlag GmbH.
Prokopovych, Markian (2009). Habsburg Lemberg: Architecture, Public Space, and Politics in the Galician Capital, 1772-1914. Lafaiete Oeste, Indiana: Imprensa da Universidade de Purdue.