Mill Tower Kranenburg

The mill tower is a former tower of the city wall, which also served as a municipal mill. Severely dilapidated, it was thoroughly restored in 1927 and its external appearance was changed.

As part of the old city fortifications, the mill tower forms an important part of the historic town centre and, along with the collegiate and pilgrimage church, shapes the townscape of Kranenburg. It bears the heraldic animal of the municipality, the crane, on its top and thus represents an important landmark of the village.

The fortified tower as well as the mill tower were built around 1400 in the course of the city fortifications with a total of 9 defensive towers. The windmill and another three defensive towers were preserved. After demolition began by the last miller, seven Kranenburgers acquired the ruins in 1922. They founded the "Association for Homeland Protection" for reconstruction and rebuilt the former mill as a tower in its present form according to a design by the provincial conservator Theodor Wildemann. The idea of the association's founders to build a local history museum here was finally achieved in 1932. After damage - including to the inventory - during the Second World War, the museum was able to reopen in 1948. From 1970, the Katharinenhof Museum exhibited religious folk art in the mill tower as a pilgrimage museum.

From the end of the 1980s, it became apparent that fundamental renovations were necessary. From this point on, the tower was no longer open to the public. In 1999, after thorough preliminary planning, extensive work could begin.

With the reopening on 10 July 2004, the mill tower once again took its traditional place in the diverse museum landscape of the Lower Rhine after a long closure.

Since 2006, the mill tower has been returned to its original purpose. In August, the exhibition "History in the Tower" was opened. It begins chronologically under the spire with prehistory and early history and continues downwards with early cultures on the Lower Rhine. On the ground floor, the story of the city windmill "From the windmill to the landmark" is told.

GPS Biker