Tapered tower
Lighthouses, minarets, chimneys, castle keeps and Dutch church towers. Choose the shape, the size at the bottom and the top, and how it narrows. Add galleries, stripes, windows, a lantern room and a cap, and build it layer by layer.
The top gallery sits on the top of the body, the others are spread evenly below it.
With the block palette set to "Per part" you choose the stripe block there.
Build the cap with the tower roof planner. There you choose from ten roof shapes. Open the tower roof planner
Side elevation
exact sizeThe dashed line is the exact size; the blocks are the rounded size. Things further back are darker. Click a layer to view it on the right.
Build breakdown
Stages and parts, from top to bottom
| Layers | Width | Shape | Exact size | Blocks |
|---|
Build tips
- First put a pole in the middle up to the full height. On every layer you measure from that pole how many blocks you go outwards.
- Work with the table: build every part straight up, then step in 1 block on each side.
- With a flared foot the wall often steps in layer after layer at the bottom. Build that part from the inside, so you always stand on the layer below.
- A striped lighthouse works best with Concrete or Terracotta. Choose the stripe block above, or set the block palette to "Stripes per layer".
- Want a spire or bell roof that fits exactly? Choose the tower roof planner under Cap. It opens with the same width.
- For a spiral staircase inside: use a wall thickness of 1 and open the spiral staircase planner with the inner size of the tower.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the design as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or rebuild it from a hologram in Litematica.
Shopping list
Add the amounts of this design to your list. There you see everything together, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
Why towers get narrower
A tall tower carries its own weight. At the bottom the whole tower presses on the wall, at the top almost nothing. That is why a tower is often wider and thicker at the bottom than at the top.
A wide base also makes the tower more stable against wind. A tower that gets narrower towards the top is called tapered.
Lighthouses
The most famous lighthouse of ancient times was the Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt, from the 3rd century BC. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Tower of Hercules in A Coruña in Spain is a Roman lighthouse that is still in use. Modern lighthouses often got coloured stripes, so sailors can recognise them during the day.
Minarets and church towers
A minaret is the tower of a mosque, from which the call to prayer is made. Many minarets have one or more balconies around them.
In Europe, people built tall church towers in stages: storeys that get a little narrower each time. The Dom Tower in Utrecht, built from 1321 to 1382, starts square and ends in an octagonal lantern.
Keeps and chimneys
In a castle, the keep was the strongest tower. Many keeps have a flared base, so attackers could hardly reach the wall and stones bounced off the sloping base.
In the industrial age, tall brick factory chimneys appeared. They are round or octagonal and get thinner towards the top, just like a lighthouse.
How was a tower built?
Builders raised the tower layer by layer. Every few metres the wall became a little thinner. Scaffolding stood in holes in the wall, which you can sometimes still see.
At the end a top was added: a spire, a dome, a lantern or a flat roof with a railing. This top often decides how we recognise a tower.
Did you know?
- The Dom Tower in Utrecht is about 112 metres tall, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands.
- The Tower of Hercules in Spain has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009.
- The Leaning Tower of Pisa started to lean during construction, in the 12th century.
- The Pharos of Alexandria collapsed after a series of earthquakes in the Middle Ages.
- The Lange Jaap in Den Helder is one of the tallest cast-iron lighthouses in the world.
About this tool
With this tower planner you build a tapered tower in Minecraft: a lighthouse, minaret, factory chimney, keep or Dutch church tower. You choose the shape, the width at the bottom and top and how it narrows. The tool works out every layer.
The floor plan can be round, square, octagonal or hexagonal. It can taper straight, have a flared base, bulge, go up in stages with ledges or change from square to octagon, like the Dom Tower. You choose hollow or solid and the wall thickness.
You add galleries (balconies around the tower), with a railing of iron bars, wood or stone and corbels below. You can choose wide stripes, narrow bands or a spiral, windows in a spiral or four per stage, a glass lantern and a top: flat, cone or spire, dome or onion dome. Examples such as a lighthouse with red stripes, a minaret with balconies and the Utrecht Dom Tower help you get started.
The side view shows the exact size with a dotted line and the rounded blocks. With the layer-by-layer build plan and the table of sections you build it, and the 3D view shows the whole tower. The counter counts blocks and stacks. With the block palette you choose your blocks, also per stripe, and then you download the tower as a .schem file.
You can make a spire that fits exactly with the tower roof planner, and a staircase inside with the spiral staircase planner.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a lighthouse in Minecraft?
Choose the example 'Lighthouse with red stripes'. First place a pole in the centre up to the full height and measure outwards from it on every layer. On top comes a glass lantern; put a light source inside.
How do I make a round tower that gets narrower?
Enter a width at the bottom and at the top. The tool splits the tower into sections that you build straight up; then you step in by 1 block on each side. The table tells you how many layers each section is.
Which block works well for stripes?
Concrete and terracotta have bright colours and no pattern, so stripes look clean. Red and white concrete give the classic lighthouse.
How many blocks do I need?
The counter shows the total and the number of stacks. A hollow tower costs much less than a solid one. With 'Add to my list' the blocks go on your shopping list.
Can I put stairs inside the tower?
Yes. Use a wall thickness of 1 and open the spiral staircase planner with the inner size of the tower. A spiral staircase fits best in a round tower with an odd width.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
The layer-by-layer build plan works in every edition, including Bedrock. The .schem file is for Minecraft Java Edition, with WorldEdit or Litematica.