Opening hours:
Generally every third Sunday from April to September
If you would like to visit the Bismarck Tower at a different time, please contact the Ettlingen Museum on 07243/101-273, where you can borrow the tower key for a deposit of 25 euros. Please note that a maximum of eight people can enter the platform of the tower at the same time, this is at your own risk.
A brief chronology
1900: The former forester Rudolf Widmann bought small plots of woodland from Ettlingen citizens, which amounted to a total area of 600 m². Students at Karlsruhe Technical University wanted to follow the example of the university cities of Freiburg and Heidelberg and also erect a Bismarck Tower in honor of the "Iron Chancellor". Rudolf Widmann made his newly acquired woodland plot - situated high above Ettlingen - available for this purpose.
1901: On June 21, the 15-metre-high Bismarck Tower was inaugurated with a torchlight procession. The students had raised the total cost of 17,000 Reichsmark through various fundraising campaigns and cultural events. The tower was planned by the Karlsruhe architect Friedrich Ratzel and master bricklayer Julius Schottmüller from Spessart was commissioned to build it. On June 27, forester Widmann transferred the land and the tower to the city of Karlsruhe by deed of gift. Since then, celebrations have been held at the Bismarck Tower to mark the solstice on June 21. Suspended during the First World War, the celebrations were resumed during the Weimar period.
1953: Until the 1960s, German Unity Day was commemorated on June 17 in memory of the popular uprising in the former GDR.
1977: In this year, the Karlsruhe exclave "Bismarck Tower" fell to the city of Ettlingen after years of negotiations in connection with a regulation of the municipal boundaries.
1998: The Bismarck Tower was completely renovated and repaired at a cost of around DM 150,000.
1999: The Bismarck Tower is once again open to the public.
