Old gate
The old gate was the western gate of the city of Speyer . With a height of 55 meters, it is one of the highest and most important city gates in Germany. It was first mentioned in a document in 1176 and was one of 68 wall and gate towers of the city fortifications of the Free Imperial City of Speyer.
History of the tower
The old gate was built in the first half of the 13th century and took the place of an earlier gate. The lower part of the tower was built between 1230 and 1250; the top floor of the tower was added in the period from 1512 to 1514.
In 1511, the mayor's official duties were also listed as: " Item das altporthor zu buwen ". The year 1514 on the old gate proves that this order was carried out.
The tower survived the city's destruction in 1689 during the War of the Palatinate Succession and is one of the few remains of the medieval city fortifications. The demolition of the tower had already been prepared when the prior and convent of the nearby Carmelite monastery, in which the French Marshal Duras lived with his companion, pointed out that if this tower was demolished there would be danger to his headquarters. The prior said to Marshal Duras: " The monastery could easily be smashed, for the preservation of which the Marshal had given his word ". Duras said, however, that his people knew how to throw the tower wherever he wanted. As the engineers waited with burning fuses for the signal from the marshal, the whole Carmelite convent fell at the marshal's feet. The prior said: “ Our monastery is old and dilapidated, even if the fall of the tower does not bury our apartment, these rotten walls and loose vaults will tremble and collapse under the tremendous impact of the enormous falling stone mass. So Lord, have mercy and spare the tower ”. The marshal looked straight ahead and finally shouted: “ Stand up children, the tower should stop! “Then the old gate was spared, while the city of Speyer and the cathedral became a field of rubble.
The steep, 20 meter high roof was not put on until 1708.
The old gate was the most important gate tower. Originally built as an external gate, it later represented the connection between the old town and St. Gilgenvorstadt.
Two rows of loopholes were the only openings on the west side. They were placed for defense purposes. The eastern side is more richly structured. Above the archway, the battlement led around the tower, from which the ten stone consoles protruding one meter have survived. They once formed the connection between the defensive walls adjoining to the north and south.
In 1773 there was a Lohmühle next to the old gate, directly on the Speyerbach . The stream turns north here and flows under the houses on Korngasse.
Name of the tower
In the 18th century it was believed that the name Altpörtel could be traced back to a Latin form " alta porta " (= high gate), but this name is not proven by any source. In one of the first documented mentions of the gate tower from 1197, it is already called " vetus porta " (Latin: "old gate"), in contrast to the no longer existing new gate, the "nova porta".
Importance of the tower
In terms of urban development, the old gate was the end of a representative street and formed the opposite pole to the Speyer Cathedral . The street between the old gate and the imperial cathedral was a so-called triumphal street, which was called “ Via Triumphalis ” in Latin . On this 25 to 50 meter wide boulevard , which is 700 meters long, the emperor moved into the cathedral with a large entourage on special festive days. Today the street between the old gate and the cathedral is narrower by one row of houses.
Speyrer normal shoe
Until the first years of the 19th century, Speyer had its own system of measures and weights. On the northern side of the passage through the old gate there is still an iron rod, which is delimited above and below by protruding noses. This is the " Speyerer Werkschuh ", a legal symbol from the field of economic life, by which every trader in the city had to comply. It has a length of 28.889 centimeters and was divided into 12 inches at the time.
In the " Description of the Holy Roman Empire Freyen city of Speyer sambt those four suburbs - Anno 1773 " is " A city of Speyerischer Werckschuh of 12 inches ". Senator Johannes Becker had the entire city and its four suburbs measured with this shoe in 1772/73 with the help of the council clerk.
Tower warden and tower clocks
In addition to their job as porters, the gatekeepers collected the toll and guarded weapons and ammunition that were stored in the towers. The guards of the old, new, Jewish, salt and red towers also had to guard the prisoners who were imprisoned in these towers. The executioner's tools were also kept in an oak box in the old gate .
For centuries, a tower keeper did his job in the old gate. The book " Das Altpörtel zu Speyer " gives a little insight into the work of a tower keeper :
“On the door in the tower passage, an oval porcelain sign read: Gg. Schappert, shoemaker and tower warden. A doorbell that ran across floors ended in the apartment and workshop. Often we climbed the creaky, steep wooden stairs and watched him ring the 'poor sinner's bell' at prayers. We watched him when he lifted the weights of the old wheel clock on ropes and trains to keep the confusing work of this time machine going. The old gate clock with its two dials, unique in itself, has a mighty movement : the roller with the weight and elevator rope, the rolling wheel that engages in the drive of the climbing wheel, the climbing wheel itself and the vertical spindle gear. with the scales and the sensible mechanics for the transfer to the hour and quarter hour dial, as well as the striking mechanism in a similar arrangement. "
Two clock faces of the tower clock are attached to the east and west side of the old gate. The hands on the large dials indicate the hour, the hands on the small dials indicate the quarter of an hour. The hour used to be the most important time indication. That is why the dials that show the full hours are considerably larger than the dials that "only" show the quarter hours. In addition, the hour dial is larger on the outside so that travelers can tell the time from a distance.
Todays use
The lower of the five accessible levels of the old gate houses an exhibition about the Speyer city fortifications and the history of the old gate. In the meeting room on the 3rd floor, which is around 15 meters high, there is a wedding room , and since summer 2014 a permanent exhibition on the Speyer Imperial Court of Justice has been on the 5th floor . From the top floor you get to an arcade-like viewing gallery around 30 meters high , from which you have a very good view of the old town of Speyer and the wider area.
literature
- Alfred Becker, Anton Doll, Otto Hess, Wolfgang Medding: The old gate to Speyer. The history of the seven hundred year old gate tower . Karl Graf-Verlag, Speyer, undated
- Joseph Behles: The Altpörtel zu Speyer: A contribution to the building history of the medieval city gates . Koerner-Valentin-Verlag, Baden-Baden, 1978
Web links
- The old gate on speyer.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Becker, Anton Doll, Otto Hess, Wolfgang Medding: Das Altpörtel zu Speyer. The history of the seven hundred year old gate tower . Karl-Graf-Verlag, Speyer, undated
- ↑ Trauturm - old gate (PDF; 1.37 MB)
- ^ The old gate on the website of the city of Speyer
Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '2.82 " N , 8 ° 25' 56.19" E