Water Tower

Virtual view

Virtual view of Water Tower

Spaces in Water tower

WINE SHOP AND EVENT VENUE
Water tower, the south-eastern defence tower of medieval Maribor, was built in 1555 and probably got its name by defending the town from the water side. Today it is completely renewed, in the ground floor there is a wine shop with terrace, in the first floor an event venue for acoustic concerts, exhibitions, literary evenings or seminars as well as banquets for smaller groups.
Technical details: surface 90 m2, number of seats 60.

LENT WINE SHOP
Lent wine shop in Water tower was opened on May 1^st 2009. Catering business Dušan Kelbič s. p. (Mr Dušan Kelbič is a wine consultant and has been one of the leading wine consultants in Slovenia for 10 years) offers wines of the members of Vinarska zadruga Maribor (Wine cooperative Maribor).
Around 45 members are represented with 2 wines each – the wines are selected by Boštjan Protner, B.Sc.
The concept of the LENT WINE SHOP Maribor:
- performer of wine and culinary events in Štajerska region (presentation of projects: Festival of asparagus and wine, summer wines, must and chestnuts, young wines of Štajerska, presentation of mature wines of Štajerska, selection of mayor's wine...)
- selection of the wine of the month, guest chefs with their spreads, ...
- incorporating external collaborators into the professional work
- founding of the club: Wine club Vinoteka Lent with discounts for club members
- website of Lent wine shop
- head office of the Častivredni vinski konvent Sv. Urbana (Honourable wine convent of Sv. Urban)
Information: Dušan Kelbič: +386 (0)40 191 901  dusan.kelbic(at)triera.net

Information about rentals

Andrej Borko, assistant manager
+386 (0)2 229 40 08 ● andrej.borko(at)nd-mb.si

Historical outline and description of the building

Water tower, the south-eastern defence tower of medieval Maribor, was built during the last improvements of the town wall which took place during the years 1548 and 1568 under the leadership of Italian architects from the Dell' Allio family. According to the recordings from the archive, there was a small round tower standing there before, which was built on pilots.

Water tower was built in 1555 and probably got its name by defending the town from the water side. The tower, which nowadays stands alone, was once connected through the wall with the Jewish tower, and there was a wooden defence corridor running on the wall. Later, houses popped up next to the wall, and next to the house at the tower there was a big entrance door, called water door. A big arch bore witness to this for a long time.

The ground plan of the tower is pentagonal, the walls of the tower are not vertical, they are leaning inwards, in the height of the first floor, they are girded with a stick boarder cornice. You could say these are elements of renaissance fortress architecture.

The walls are made of stone, predominantly processed rectangular sandstones, with a thickness from 1.7 to 2.5 m. Probes showed that the foundations reach ten metres deep. There are portholes in stone frames in the walls, and narrow openings in the roof that probably served for defence purposes. 

On the ground floor the tower has a cap-like arched ceiling. Four arches lean on the central column made of cut sandstone. The staircase next to the northern wall, on the left side of the main entrance, leads to the first floor. The roofing is open, the supporting banisters of the standing chair stand on two composed connectors. The roof is made of brick roof tiles and covered with biber roofing tiles.  

During the planning of the hydroelectric power plant Srednja Drava I, it became obvious that the water level in the city will fundamentally rise, therefore it was necessary to think about the buildings that are located in the area that will be flooded. 
The most important buildings on this area were Water tower and the house, where the rafts used to land, called Mariborske Benetke, which was then, incomprehensibly, demolished.  

The preservation of Water tower was not an easy task. The first proposals to rescue the tower suggested that the tower should be taken apart and then composed a bit further away from the river. Research showed that the binders made of quicklime were so hard that the sandstone would be damaged too much during the dismantling, so it was impossible to do that. The second proposal, which faced a lot of opposition and concerns, was to lift the tower on the same spot. Based on the idea and project of structural engineer Jože Požauk this procedure under the leadership of Zavod za spomeniško varstvo Maribor (managed by prof. Andreja Volavšek) was successfully carried out in 1968.The tower was lifted for 2.6m. Before lifting it, they had to temporarily demolish the arches and the supporting ceiling due to technical reasons. The state was previously recorded into detail, so they could reconstruct it later. The works were not finished in 1968, the space remained empty, and the reconstruction of the arches on the ground floor was not carried out.

The tower was desolated for twenty years until its first rebuilding and renovation during the years 1986 and 1987. Finally, in 1989 it was turned into a wine shop.