Old Tower, Mariupol

In 1906, there was no water supply in Mariupol and water carriers delivered water in barrels for a fee from a source of drinking water on Malofontannaya Street to the homes of local residents. On May 24, 1906, the Mariupol Duma (city council) adopted the proposal to secure a loan to finance the project of constructing a water supply network in Mariupol. The cost of its implementation was estimated at 360 thousand Rubles, which exceeded the city budget by far. Permission for obtaining a loan was granted by , Chairman of the Council of Ministers and concurrently Minister of the Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, and the Mayor was informed of it in February 1907. Construction work on the water tower and the city water supply system began in December 1909, and the city's water supply system started operating on July 3, 1910. This was a branched water supply system, 21.5 kilometers long pipelines, with water intake columns where water was supplied with the help of the water tower. The water columns held booths for caretakers who collected payment for individually released volumes of water. A part of the line was directly brought into the homes of the privileged elite of Mariupol. The tower was damaged during the 2022 Siege of Mariupol. Compared to other historical buildings in the city, many of which were badly damaged, it survived the siege in good condition. == Architecture ==

The tower was designed following eclecticism, a trend in architecture of the second half of the 19th century, in that it combines elements of various styles, here: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Romanesque style is said to be found in the semicircular completion of arches and decorating details. Each of the red-and-white brick faces of the octahedral four-tier tower ends with a roof slope at the foot of a circular glazed viewing platform under an eight-slope roof. The walls of the structure are divided into three parts (first, second-third and fourth floors) by white-brick cornice masonry around the perimeter. The second and third floors are visually perceived as a single floor due to the framing of each side with flat decorative columns (pilasters). Each side of the fourth floor of the tower is cut through by windows grouped in twos. The vertical division of the faces is made only at the level of the second or third floors with the help of a protruding volume with a lancet ending. The external decor of the tower includes a semicircular design of the openings of the double windows of the fourth tier, elements of transition of the cornice above the upper tier to the plane of the roof slopes hanging over the walls, and relief of the parapet of the observation deck at its top. ==Gallery==

File:Перший поверх Вежі. Культурно-туристичний центр.jpg|Interior view File:Стара вежа (Маріуполь) 5.jpg|Interior view File:Стара вежа (Маріуполь) 7.jpg|Interior view File:Стара вежа (Маріуполь) 1.jpg|Aerial view File:Вежа взимку.jpg|The water tower on a winter night ==Other information==

The Mariupol water tower has a twin sister in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia, also a water tower designed by architect Victor Nielsen and completed in 1901. ==See also==