Powder tower
Tower designed to store gunpowder
title: "Powder tower" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["powder-towers", "fortified-towers-by-type"] description: "Tower designed to store gunpowder" topic_path: "general/powder-towers" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_tower" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Tower designed to store gunpowder ::
[[File:Prag Pulverturm.jpg|thumb|The powder tower of [[Prague]]]] ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Pulverturm_Meschede.jpg" caption="The powder tower in Meschede"] ::
A powder tower (), 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
Bavaria
- Pulverturm, Bad Reichenhall
- Pulverturm, Burghausen
- Färberturm, Gunzenhausen
- Pulverturm, Lindau
- Pulverturm, Memmingen
- Pulverturm, Munich
- Pulverturm, Ochsenfurt
- Pulverturm, Straubing
Brandenburg
Bremen
Lower Saxony
- Pulverturm, Bad Bentheim
- Knochenturm in Einbeck
- Pulverturm, Hameln
- Pulverturm Lingen, Ems
- Pulverturm, Oldenburg
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
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
Saxony
- Pulverturm, Johanngeorgenstadt
- Pulverturm in Zwickau
Saxony-Anhalt
Thuringia
Austria
Czechia
- Despite its name the Powder Tower in Prague was never actually used to store gunpowder
Italy
Latvia
- Powder Tower, Riga (Pulvertornis)
Namibia
Switzerland
- Malteserturm in Chur
- Pulverturm, Merano
- Pulverturm, Zofingen
USA
Gallery
Prague 07-2016 View from Old Town Hall Tower img8.jpg|The Powder Tower in Prague Pulverturm Oldenburg.jpg|Pulverturm in Oldenburg with remains of the old town wall Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, Außen.jpg|Pulverturm Wiedenbrück, exterior view Landsberg Befestigung 8.jpg|Pulverturm in Landsberg am Lech Lindau-pulverturm.jpg|Pulverturm in Lindau Pulverturm neumarkt.jpg|Pulverturm in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate Pulverturm (Riga).JPG|Pulverturm in Riga PulverturMM.jpg|Pulverturm in Memmingen Aachen Langer Turm.jpg|Langer Turm in Aachen Pulverturm Linz am Rhein.jpg|Pulverturm in Linz am Rhein Pulverturm_Rottenburg_01.JPG|Pulverturm in Rottenburg/Neckar Pulverturm Johanngeorgenstadt.jpg|Pulverturm in Johanngeorgenstadt Pulverturm otjimbingwe namibia 2012.jpg|Pulverturm in Otjimbingwe, Namibia Pulverturm_in_Zofingen.jpg|Pulverturm in Zofingen Zwickau city wall with powder tower (aka).jpg|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
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