St. Urban Tower, Košice, Slovakia

St. Urban Tower is originally a Gothic prismatic campanile with a pyramidal roof. It was erected in the 14th century. A church bell installed in the tower has been dedicated to Saint Urban, the patron of vine-dressers. The bell was cast in a mould by the bell-founder Franciscus Illenfeld of Olomouc in 1557. Its weight is 7 tonnes.

In 1775 the pyramidal roof was constructed with annion in the Baroque style with an iron double cross. An archade passage was erected around the tower in 1912. There are 36 old gravestones (coming from the 14th and 15th centuries, one of these comes from the Roman Empire and dates back to the 4th century) bricked into the exterior walls of the St. Urban Tower.

In 1966 the tower was damaged by fire and the St. Urban Bell was destroyed as well. The reconstructed tower was reopened in 1971. The renovated bell was located in the front of the tower and a copy of the bell (made by employees of VSŽ Steel Works Košice in 1996) was installed in the campanile.

The East Slovak Museum set up an impressive exhibition of foundrywork in the tower after the reconstruction in 1977. It was removed in 1995. Today, there is a unique wax museum exhibition in the tower.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in Slovakia

User Reviews

Ma Linka (13 months ago)
Nice historical place

lichard g (14 months ago)
This is an interesting place if you are interested in religion. You can understand a little bit about the history of the bell in front of the tower. There are no observation decks or windows from which you can see the city.

Jan Balaz (4 years ago)
Just to remember historical patina...

Palmiro P. Zavorka (4 years ago)
I arrived by train, from Prague, center is great, parks, green with trees, and old medieval monuments, churches. Square rich in restaurants, beer is cheap, in hotel you can buy good slivovice and distilates. I new Kosice for the history, but the visit made me to appreciate the old fashioned and nice place.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Roman Moško

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