Warmington Heritage Group: Beat Kümin explores German tower ball deposits

Beat Kümin returns for a talk on: ‘Tower Ball Deposits in the German Lands’ The chronicles and objects some German communities deposit in golden spheres located on top of towers during construction or repairs.

Ever since the Middle Ages, people in the German lands have placed chronicles and selected objects into golden tower spheres located on top of prominent buildings (like churches, town gates and castles). The custom served to invoke divine protection but also suggests a desire for self-representation and direct communication with posterity. In some places, historians can find entire series of deposits, made whenever the towers needed repairs, occasionally stretching over hundreds of years. This talk provides an illustrated overview over the phenomenon.

Beat Kümin is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Warwick. His research focuses on local politics, religion and memory, particularly in the German lands. The latest book publication focused on Imperial Villages in the Holy Roman Empire. He co-ordinates the My-Parish Network and currently investigates the history, distribution and significance of tower capsule deposits.