When we stand high up and enjoy the view, we usually hardly think about the history a place holds. Instead, our gaze wanders over forests, lakes, and the surrounding landscape, sometimes even as far as the Berlin TV Tower or Tropical Islands. But just as fascinating as the view itself is often the question of how such towers came to be in the first place. And that’s exactly why we’d like to introduce you today to an observation tower with a particularly eventful past. The Friedenswarte is one of Brandenburg’s most famous observation towers and stands on the approximately 50-meter-high Marienberg, the city’s highest natural elevation.
The Friedenswarte on the Marienberg is now considered a landmark of Brandenburg an der Havel and offers a sweeping panoramic view of the historic districts, lake landscapes, and forests of the surrounding area. At the same time, the tower is one of Brandenburg’s most unusual observation structures, as its futuristic appearance conceals an eventful history.
Several monumental structures have already stood at this very spot. As early as the beginning of the 20th century , a so-called Bismarckwarte was built here —a monumental observation tower in honor of Otto von Bismarck. The project was initiated by toy manufacturer Ernst Paul Lehmann, and the tower was designed by the renowned architect Bruno Möhring. Construction began in 1905, and the tower was finally opened in 1908.
The original tower was constructed from Rathenow clinker bricks and large granite boulders from the Marienberg itself. Particularly spectacular was the fire bowl on the roof: on special occasions, so-called “Bismarck fires” were lit there, visible far beyond Brandenburg and lending the tower an almost monumental appearance.
After World War II, however, the political significance of the structure changed dramatically. In 1958, the Bismarckwarte was officially renamed the “Friedenswarte.” The bust of Bismarck disappeared and was replaced by a dove of peace, symbolically adapting the tower to the ideology of the GDR .
In 1974, the old tower was finally demolished, officially due to dilapidation. To this day, however, many suspect that political reasons also played a role. In the same year, the current concrete structure was built on the same site; with its unusual shape, it almost looks like a retro-futuristic GDR observation tower . It was inaugurated on October 7, 1974, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the GDR.
Today’s Friedenswarte is approximately 32.5 meters high and features a total of ten observation platforms, five of which are open and five of which are glass-enclosed. Particularly striking are the two separate spiral staircases, each with 180 steps: a black staircase is used for ascending, and the red one for descending. Due to this spiral-shaped construction, the interior is almost reminiscent of a double helix structure, like a DNA spiral.
