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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM |
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TOWER (Lat. turris; Fr. tour, clocker; Ital. torre; Ger. Thurm) , the term given to a lofty building originally designed for defence, and, as such, attached to and forming part of the fortifications of a city or castle. Towers do not seem to have existed in Egypt, but in Mesopotamia from the earliest times they form the most important feature in the city walls, and are shown in the bas-reliefs of the Assyrian palaces at Nimroud and elsewhere. The earliest representation is perhaps that engraved on the tablet in the lap of Gudea the priest king of Lagash (2700 B.c.), whose statue, found at Tello, is now in the Louvre; the drawing is that of a large fortified enclosure, with gates, bastions and towers, corresponding with remains of similar structures of the same and later periods. In the discoveries made here, at Susa and at Dom Sargoukin, the towers were about 40 ft. square, projecting from 16.to 20 ft. in front of the curtain walls which connected them, and standing
wall
From the architectural point of view, the towers which are of chief
interest
Earl
chief
wall
string
interest
Among the finest examples are those of Canterbury, Ely, York
So far reference has been made only to central and western towers, the latter not always placed, like the Anglo-Saxon towers, in the axial line of the nave, but sometimes on the north or south side of the west end; and as a rule these are only found in England. In France and Germany, however, they are greatly increased in number; thus in Reims seven towers with spires were contemplated, according to Viollet-le-Duc, but never completed; at Chartres eight towers, and at Laon seven, of which six are completed; in Germany the cathedrals of Mayence and Spires and two of the churches in Cologne have from four to seven towers; and at Tournai cathedral, in Belgium, are seven towers. In many of the churches in Norfolk and Suffolk the western tower is circular, owing probably to the fact that, being built with stone of small dimensions, the angles of the quoins would have been difficult to construct. In some of the French towns, isolated towers were built to contain bells, and were looked upon as municipal constructions; of these there are a few left, as at Bethune, Evreux, Amiens and Bordeaux, the latter being a double tower, with the bells placed in a roof between them. The towers of secular. buildings are chiefly of the town halls, of which there are numerous examples throughout France and Belgium, such as those of the hotel de ville at St Antonin (13th century) and Compiegne, both In France; at Lubeck, Danzig and Munster in Germany; and Brussels, Bruges and Oudenarde in Belgium. (R. P. S.) End of Article: TOWER (Lat. turris; Fr. tour, clocker; Ital. torre; Ger. Thurm) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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