page_title: Olpe, Germany
section_title: Buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Olpe, Germany / Culture and sightseeing / Buildings
caption_attribution_description: Stadtmauer in Olpe (Weierhohl)
context_page_description: Olpe is a town situated in the foothills of the Ebbegebirge in North Rhine-Westphalia, roughly 60 km east of Cologne and 20 km northwest of Siegen. It is part of the Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg and is the seat of the district of Olpe.
context_section_description: Seventy-three buildings are listed on the town's list of monumental buildings, among them churches, rectories and chapels, but also houses and monuments. Not all the buildings listed here are protected monuments, but each has an important function for Olpe:
  Historic town wall with Engelsturm and Hexenturm (towers)
  Once Olpe was raised to town in 1311, the fortified town wall appeared no later than 1373. It consisted of three great and two lesser town gates and a few round towers. Today all that is left of the old town wall is some remnants in the Weierhohl with the Engelsturm (“Angels’ Tower”) and Hexenturm (“Witches’ Tower”). The latter, built in the 14th century, is the town's oldest preserved profane building. Its name might refer to those accused or found guilty of being witches, for which the tower might have been used as a prison. However, there is no proof of this. The Olpe Heimatforscher (“homeland researcher”, roughly “local historian”) Manfred Schöne assumed that the name came from Hessenturm (“Hesse Tower”).
  Furthermore, under the town wall has lain the memorial site created by Ewald Mataré in 1963. It recalls the war's victims and serves as a memorial for the living, and since 1996 there has also been a “Hounds’ Memorial” commemorating a particular breed that arose in Olpe.
  Waterwheel
  The waterwheel stands at the former site of the Oberste Stadtmühle (“Uppermost Town Mill”) in the Weierhohl. It is complemented by the old mill's remains. The Unterste Stadtmühle (“Lowermost Town Mill”) persisted into the 1960s on Mühlenstraße, where the new cinema now stands. The mills were supplied from the Olpe and Bigge through two millraces.
  Martinus-Kirche with Agatha statue
  After the arson fire in 1907, Saint Martin's Church was built in the Gothic Revival style as a three-naved hall church with transept and twin-tower façade. One of the two towers was destroyed in the bombing on 28 March 1945 and was never repaired, being left in its damaged state today as a memorial for peace. The current mayor, however, is trying to raise an endowment whose goal would be to rebuild the tower. Before the north exit, a statue of Saint Agatha has stood since 1979.
  Evangelical church
  This was built in 1897 and 1898 and is thereby the town's oldest church. It was built of red brick.
  Marketplace with Pannenklöpper (local word for “tinsmiths”) Memorial
  After the Great Fire in 1795, the mediaeval layout was abandoned and a new one built from the ground up. This was conceived by Johann Adam Stahl. The marketplace’s current shape was drawn from this plan. Many houses that were built at this time stand on cellars of the older houses that burnt down. In places, they jut into the street. In the 1990s, the marketplace was overhauled, and, except on Sundays when High Mass is celebrated at Saint Martin’s Church, it is a carfree area. The Panneklöpper-Denkmal was erected in 1982 and recalls the former importance of this profession in the town of Olpe.
  Chapels (Kreuzkapelle, Rochuskapelle and Valentinskapelle)
  Kurkölner Platz (“Electoral-Cologne Square”) with the Geschichtsbrunnen (“History Fountain/Well”)
caption: Town wall in Olpe (Weierhohl)
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