Sauvabelin Tower
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The Tour de Sauvabelin (literally "Tower of Sauvabelin") is a wooden tower located in the Sauvabelin forest in
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. The tower was built in 2003 by
Julius Natterer Julius Natterer, (December 5, 1938 – October 25, 2021), was a German engineer and professor of wood construction at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Career Julius Natterer studied at the Technical University of Munic ...
and stands 35 meters high . It offers a panoramic view of the city of
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
,
Lake Léman Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () of the lake belongs to Switzerl ...
, and the surrounding countryside and mountains.


Story

IIn the 1980s, EPFL professor Julius Natterer tasked his students with developing various construction designs for a tower. In a motion and an interpellation in 1994 and 1996, city councillor Pierre Payot proposed that the observation tower be constructed using wood sourced directly from Lausanne's forests. To avoid unnecessary felling of trees, logs and squared timber were used, partly from dying Douglas firs for the exterior and fir and spruce for the interior. The project was approved by the city council on July 2, 1996, and the building permit was granted to the client, the Union des sociétés de développement de Lausanne (USDL), on March 12, 1998. The majority of the approximately 1.19 million Swiss francs in construction costs were financed by sponsors. Anyone could contribute financially by purchasing stair treads; one cost 1,000 francs for private individuals, and 3,000 francs for companies. In return, each landing was inscribed with the sponsor's name. The tower was completed on November 29, 2003, and has been open to the public since December 15, 2003. Access is automatically controlled by a revolving gate, which closes during bad weather or after opening hours. For safety reasons, the maximum number of people allowed at any given time is limited to 50.


See also

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Lac de Sauvabelin __NOTOC__ Lac de Sauvabelin (literally "Lake of Sauvabelin") is an artificial lake in the Sauvabelin forest, above Lausanne, Switzerland. The city of Lausanne authorized the construction of the lake in 1888. A few years later, Funiculaire Lausan ...
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Spiral stairs Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...


Notes and references


External links


Official website


{{Coord, 46, 32, 07, N, 6, 38, 19, E, region:CH-VD_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Lausanne Tourist attractions in Lausanne