Krásno - Lookout tower

Babylon Tower or Minaret

An unmissable landmark of Slavkovský Forest is a stone lookout tower with an external spiral staircase, which rises on Krásenský vrch. The lookout tower was built in 1933–1935, during the Great Depression. The plan for the lookout tower was created by architect Fritz Hoffmann and sculptor Willy Russ. The construction of the lookout tower provided work for about two dozen unemployed people. In order to save on the transport of materials, stones for the construction were obtained from the surrounding area. A small quarry was opened a few dozen meters southwest of the summit. The remains of the quarry are still visible in the terrain.

Krásno - Lookout tower. Foto Světlana Kuncová

According to Jan Nouza, the prototype of the Krásno lookout tower was the spiral minaret of al-Malwejía at the Great Mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra. The stone structure has the shape of a hollow cylinder, a spiral staircase winds upwards along the shell, and the lookout tower thus resembles the Tower of Babylon. The circular base of the tower is 11 meters wide, the observation terrace at a height of 25 m has a diameter of 3 m. The thickness of the masonry at the foundations reaches 2.5 meters. The total volume of the stone masonry is 850 m³. 120 steps lead to the observation terrace. At the top is a circular platform with a stone border, into which porcelain plates describing a circular view were inserted.Jan Nouza (*January 25, 1957 Ústí nad Labem) is a university professor at the Technical University of Liberec. In 1995, he was responsible for the establishment of the Laboratory of Computerized Speech Processing at this university (TUL). His hobby is hiking, especially exploring lookout towers.