The Leaning Tower of Bad Frankenhausen® stands strikingly and spectacularly crooked, lending the town's skyline a special charm. It has been a landmark of the town and a popular photo motif for centuries. The church "Unserer Lieben Frauen am Berge" was built as a high Gothic church on the remains of a Romanesque predecessor building. In the 18th century, the Gothic spire burned down and was replaced by Baroque lanterns. Over the centuries, extensions and conversions followed.

The tower leans further and further. Around 1900, after a major sinkhole, the leaning of the tower became clearly visible. Initial rescue measures began. Two supporting pillars on the eastern and northern sides were intended to prevent further leaning - but the tower continued to lean. In the 1930s, ring anchors were placed around the tower and the foundations were widened. At the beginning of the 1960s, the sponge-infested roof was removed. Finally, in 1992, an association was founded to save the church. Until 2016, there were various campaigns to preserve the tower, which is now 4.60 m out of plumb. In 2005, available measurement results showed that the tower had developed an average rate of subsidence of 6 cm/year in recent years. Two years later, 1 million euros in funding was made available and stabilization measures were started. However, the project was not under a good star, as the tower was threatened with demolition in the meantime. The purchase of the church by the city and its inclusion in the "National Urban Development Projects" funding program made it possible to secure the tower for the long term.

The reason for the leaning of the church tower and the near demolition is the gypsum and salt-containing subsoil. Deep below the city, water dissolves salt and gypsum rock that was deposited here around 250 million years ago in a huge sea. When the salt is dissolved from the subsoil, the ground can sink. The Leaning Tower of Bad Frankenhausen stands on such a subsidence area.