Water Tower, Maribor

The Maribor Water Tower is a medieval fortified tower in the city of Maribor, Slovenia. The late-Renaissance tower stands directly abuts the Drava River and dates from 1555. It is of pentagonal form and consists of massive stone blocks interspersed with embrasures. It was built to secure the southeast part of the Maribor city walls from the direction of the river.HistoryBefore the mid-16th century, the southern part of the Maribor city walls was guarded by two round defensive towers, the predecessor of the current Jewish Tower and the predecessor of the Water Tower, known as the Gunpowder Tower (Smodniški stolp), mentioned as of 1529. Around 1555, a decision was made to extend the city's defensive fortifications against Turkish raids to include the municipal port. Italian master builders erected two bastions on the Drava, a tower that came to be known as Mariborske Benetke ("Mariborian Venice") to the west and the Water Tower to the east. The city gates once stood between Benetke Tower and the Judgement Tower.A site called Pristan ("quay") or Lent had earlier developed outside the walls, serving as the mercantile center of old Maribor. Until the construction of the Carinthian railway between Maribor and Klagenfurt in 1863, the Benetke port building saw annual eastward-bound traffic of up to 800 šajke (characteristic local barges) and 1200 rafts.

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