Powder tower

The powder tower of Prague

The powder tower in Meschede

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

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

• Despite its name the Powder Tower in Prague was never actually used to store gunpowder

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.