Gutzlaff Signal Tower
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The Gutzlaff Signal Tower, also known as the Bund Weather Tower or the Bund Signal Tower (外滩信号台), is a major landmark in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
's
Bund Bund, BUND, or the Bund may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Der Bund'', a German-language newspaper published in Bern, Switzerland * Shanghai Bund (TV series), ''Shanghai Bund'' (TV series), a 2007 Chinese television remake of the 19 ...
. It is a 36.8m tall (49.8m focal height)
signal station A signal station is a form of Navigational aid, Aids to Navigation that is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization, IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad de ...
designed and built by Spanish innovator and industrialist Modesto Marti de Sola, through his company Shanghai Reinforced Concrete Company Co. in the year 1907. It was built in Beaux-Arts style, originally intended to provide weather information to ships on the
Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ...
, in particular
typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
warnings.


History

A signal station was first built in the Bund area by the French in 1865, soon after the cession of Shanghai's foreign concession. It was rebuilt in 1884, at the time of the establishment of the Zikawei Observatory by French Jesuits to offer weather forecast services to the port. The current structure was built in 1907, and named after
Karl Gützlaff Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a Germans, German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in ...
. The tower signaled weather reports five times a day, and gave emergency flag signals in case of typhoon or sudden inclement weather. Its operation was discontinued in 1956. The tower was moved 22.4 m to its current location in 1993, and was reconstructed in 1999. Currently, the ground floor houses a museum of history of the Bund, and the first floor a cafe.


References


External links

*
High resolution photographs of historical architecture in Shanghai.
{{coord, 31.2352, N, 121.4877, E, format=dms, region:CN-31_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Shanghai Water transport infrastructure The Bund Beaux-Arts architecture 1999 in Shanghai