Bismarck Tower

The Bismarck Tower in Aachen's Burtscheid district is one of the few surviving monuments built around the world in honor of Otto von Bismarck. In the early 20th century, the initiative for the structure came from the student body of the Technical University, which formed a committee together with influential local citizens. After approval from the city council, the tower was ceremonially inaugurated in 1907, also to commemorate Bismarck's early days as a junior legal trainee in Aachen. Designed by Georg Frentzen, the monument consists of a semicircular base level, a lower level with round-arched portals and busts of Bismarck, Moltke, and Roon, and a square, four-story tower shaft. At the top it carries a ducal crown, which was once topped by an imperial orb. Following extensive renovation work, the tower is once again a popular destination for day trips. Visitors can climb spiral staircases to an observation platform and take in the views over the surroundings of the Ehrenfriedhof cemetery.