Melega Miklós (szerk.): Remembering St Martin in his birth place (Szombathely, 2016)
D ating back to the middle Ages, the tower in the city’s market place was probably built in roughly the period as the city walls were built in the 15th century.2 It was first mentioned in 1585 in a description by Carolus Clusius (Charles de I’Bcluse), physician and botanist from the Netherlands when the tower already had a clock."1 Originally, it was probably topped by a pyramid roof, covered by shingles, its top floor probably had an external wooden corridor with wooden rails so that guards could walk around the tower to have a good look around. There was probably a flight of wooden stairs leading up to this floor. The door to the tower was located on the west side where the daily markets were held. The firefighting equipment was held on the ground floor from where you could access the dungeons in the tower's cellars. The tower probably had the copper Barocfue roof in the late 17th century, the floor of which served as a lookout floor for the guards, rendering the former wooden corridor unnecessary. Cut from a copper plate, St martin's ^old- plated image was attached as a weathercock to the copper sphere at the pinnacle of the roof. The tower had two bells, a smaller and a larger one. When the tower of the St martin church underwent renovation works, they used to toll the bells of this tower. In the course of the centuries the tower was damaged a number of times. Its fate was sealed in the fire of 1817 it fell victim to. The tower was so badly damaged that the council wanted to demolish it, triggering such resistance from locals that in the end the council decided to rebuild the tower instead. They agreed on the condition that a tower similar to the old one would be built. For the time beingj, the old tower was covered with a temporary plank roof. The new tower was designed by Frantz Stampf, who added yet another floor to the walls. To replace the Barocfue roof, the design had a flat pyramid roof and a Classicist building all around the ground floor area. Due to a lack of funds, however, the plan was shelved and the building was eventually demolished in 1837.4 The altar of the market's chapel, next to the tower also featured St martin’s statue.5 Literature and notes 1 ITIagyar Nemzeti Levéltár Vas tTlegyei Levéltára Szombathely város tanácsának iratai. Peres iratok, fblgári törvényes perek Fase PR Nr. 754. 4 Kiss Gábor - Tóm Sndre - Záüorhioi CzisánY Balázs: Savaria-Szombathely története. A város alapításától 1526-ig. Szerk. Snűíl Pál. Szombathely. 1998. (hereinafter: Kiss - Tóm - ZAoorhipi Chiűány, 1988.) 198. p. (Szombathely története: l) 5 Carolus Clusius leírása Szombathely városáról 1585-ben. Közli Tóttj 6ndre, Záqorhidi Cziüány Balázs. - Lapok Szombathely történetéből (hereinafter: LSZt.l 1999 72. sz. 1-3. p. (Panniculus Ser. C: 117.) + Bűnözik Gyula A szombathelyi várostorony. - LSZt. 1996. 42. sz. 1-4. p. Panniculus Ser. C; 55.) 5 B, Dornsr thária: Adatok a szombathelyi piaci kápolna történetéhez. « Savaria. A Vas megyei múzeumok értesítője, 1977-1978, 329-362. p. 22 Remembering St martin in his birth placc
