Amazing Photo: A 600-Year Old Tower in Front of a Modern Skyscraper

(Photo: Epizentrum)

This is Frankfurt, Germany. The Eschenheimer Turm is the shorter of the two towers that you see in the center of this photo. Upon its completion in 1428, this tower was a strongpoint in the city’s defensive plan. It’s 154 feet high and has 10 accessible levels. The tower was originally part of a broad wall. Builders placed a portcullis in it to make entrance into the inner city defensible.

It’s now a restaurant.

Behind the Eschenheimer Turm is the Nextower, a 446-foot tall office building built in 2009. As far as I can determine, it does not have a portcullis.

That seems like a major oversight.

-via Twisted Sifter