The tall Roter Turm (litt.: Red Tower) is a landmark of Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany, and its oldest surviving building. It was built towards the end of the 12th century and initially served as a bergfried to protect the surrounding settlements, later it was the seat of the advocatus. The tower was probably integrated into the Chemnitz city fortifications as early as 1230.
The name of the tower is attributed to the dominant red color of the building material used. The main body of the building was built of predominantly red-coloured varieties of Chemnitz porphyry tuff. Building blocks of this color are primarily found in the oldest buildings in Chemnitz. This rock, a type of tuff close to ignimbrite, has been the main building rock in the city and its region for centuries. At the end of the 15th century, it received the attached brick floor, which was covered with red roof tiles. The tower itself was plastered until the middle of the 19th century and probably painted white.
Until about 1900, the tower and its annex were used as a prison. This function saved the Roter Turm from demolition in the early 19th century, when Chemnitz's city fortifications were demolished. Inmates of the Roter Turm during its time as a prison included August Bebel and Karl Stülpner. With the redevelopment of Theaterstrasse at the end of the 19th century, the previously free-standing Roter Turm disappeared behind a row of houses, so that only the tower hood could be seen of it.
During one of the air raids on Chemnitz at the end of the Second World War, the tower burned out. It was rebuilt between 1957 and 1959.
The shape of the classic bottle of dishwashing liquid âÂÂfitâ was modelled on the Roter Turm in 1968. The washing-up liquid was produced until 1967 at the enterprise named VEB Fettchemie Karl-Marx-Stadt. In the run-up to the opening of Chemnitz's European Capital of Culture year 2025, the Roter Turm was illuminated accordingly in December 2024 for the 70th anniversary of the dishwashing liquid âÂÂfitâÂÂ.
The neighboring shopping center âÂÂGalerie Roter TurmâÂÂ, which opened on 27 April 2000, is named after the Roter Turm.