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All Switzerland Zurich Findling vom Geissturm
AO Edited

Findling vom Geissturm

This massive boulder was hurled into a Zurich church when a gunpowder depot was struck by lightning in 1652.

Zurich, Switzerland

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Findling vom Geissturm   Badener / CC BY 3.0
  Badener / CC BY 3.0
Grossmünster   Fred Romero / CC BY 2.0
Findling vom Geissturm circa 1942   Gallas Wilhelm / Architectural History Archive
  CoolCrab / Atlas Obscura User
  JulsMaya / Atlas Obscura User
That’s a big stone  
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On a corner of the University of Zurich's theological school at Grossmünster sits a boulder. Though the church structure is nearly 1,000 years old, this boulder only came to be there some 350 years ago, when a nearby tower exploded after being struck by lightning.

The Geissturm was once part of the fortifications for the city of Zurich. It was a tower located on the old town wall on a hill called Winkelwiese. Because of its distance from the inhabited areas of town, the tower was used as a gunpowder depot starting in the 16th century (hence its other name, Pulverturm, or powder tower).

On June 10, 1652,  a bolt of lightning struck the Geissturm, igniting a mighty explosion involving 400 hundredweights of powder. The tower and parts of the wall that surrounded it were destroyed, and seven people were killed in the disaster. Thrown by the force of the explosion, the stones that made up the tower and the wall were scattered around the surrounding neighborhood.

One particularly large boulder, weighing about 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds), was hurled over 230 meters (750 feet) and landed at this spot next to the Grossmünster, where it remains to this day.

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Explosions Lightning Towers Rocks

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LisaLii

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austinj, CoolCrab, JulsMaya, Michelle Cassidy

  • austinj
  • CoolCrab
  • JulsMaya
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

November 23, 2022

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Sources
  • https://www.gebrueder-duerst.ch/turicum/befestigungen/stadtbefestigung_3_rechts/geissturm/geissturm.html
  • https://www.stadtmodell-zuerich.ch/de/detail/1799/geissturm
Findling vom Geissturm
Grossmünsterplatz
Zurich, 8001
Switzerland
47.370131, 8.544765
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