Brandenburg city fortifications
The Brandenburg city fortification is a medieval city fortification of the two then independent cities of Altstadt Brandenburg and Neustadt Brandenburg , today's Brandenburg an der Havel .
The two cities of Brandenburg formed separate administrative and settlement units until they were unified in 1715. They lay side by side, separated by the main arm of the Havel , and each had its own wall ring. For this reason they are shown separately in the following, since the construction of their city fortifications dates back to before 1715.
Old town Brandenburg
The city fortifications of the old town of Brandenburg, which is reminiscent of a kidney shape, consisted of:
- a city wall,
- five city gates
- three historically secured gate towers
- an upstream wall system in the northwestern area
History and shape
The west to north-west flank of the old town of Brandenburg was the most endangered section of the medieval settlement. The most sensitive section was the area between the Plauer or Luckenberger Tor and the Rathenower Tor . This is where the eastern slope of the Marien- or Harlunger Mountains ended . Since the Old Town Brandenburg since the early stages of continuous German settlement in the late 12th century the warlike Magdeburg archbishop in the other and feud funny mighty knight sexes had in the immediate neighborhood, the Quitzows in Plaue , it was necessary to protect this section particularly. Probably as early as the 14th century, an elaborate wall double ditch system was built, which enclosed the old town with water on all sides by connecting the natural watercourses of the Beetzsee and Lower Havel .
On the city side, the city wall was connected, the oldest parts of which date from the 14th century and are made of Brandenburg bricks . The highest still preserved remains reach a height of three to four meters and thus neither reach today's wall crown nor its original height of about five meters, which can be read from the wall-side tower entrances of the gate towers or the break lines of the impact area. The wall is built in a runner-runner - truss bond and is up to half a meter thick. The baroque parts of the wall are easily recognizable by their distinctive stretcher-truss structure. The format of the bricks also changed in general towards smaller stones.
The wall could be passed through five gates:
- the Plauer- or Luckenberger Tor with gate tower in the southwest,
- the Rathenower Tor with gate tower in the northwest,
- the old town Mühlentor in the north, whose gate tower was demolished in 1802 and a home was in front of it,
- the old-urban water gate in the northeast of Brandenburg Lower Havel back
- and the new gate of the old town, which protected the bridgehead of the long bridge (today Millennium Bridge ) to the new town of Brandenburg.
The city fortifications were reinforced with Wiek houses and defense towers between the gates . The picture opposite shows the Rathenow gate tower below the Marienkirche . In the left part of the picture it is flanked by a defense tower, the location of which is indicated by a red brick band on today's Wallstrasse. It's not about the Plauer gate tower! Towards the lower right edge of the picture a defensive tower can be seen, the stump of which is still standing in the former parish garden of St. Gotthardt . Not far from the stump there is a well-preserved Wiekhaus in the wall.
Course of the city wall of the old town
The city wall of the old town of Brandenburg was about 1650 meters long. It moved from the Plauer or Luckenberger Tor to the northeast to the Rathenower Tor. From there, after about 160 meters, she reached the former bishop's court, the city residence of the Brandenburg bishops, which later became the first school building in Saldria . As it were, the boundary of the property of the bishop's court bent to the southeast and ran right in front of the choir of St. Gotthardt to reach Mühlentorstraße and thus the old town Mühlentor after a few meters. From there it was 50 meters to the old town water gate on the Brandenburger Niederhavel, opposite the small island, the western part of the cathedral island.
Along the banks of the Havel, the course of the wall can be traced to the northwestern bridgehead of the Millennium Bridge, where the wall reached the New Gate of the old town. Medieval communication still exists from the bend in the old town's Wassertorstraße to Ritterstraße (former location of the New Gate) . Behind the New Gate, the wall ran along the bank of the Salzhof, where it left the small salt gate free down to the Havel so that the landing salt and cargo ships could be loaded or unloaded.
Immediately behind it, the city wall enclosed the monastery grounds of the Franciscan monastery with its monastery church St. Johannis , then moved to the northwest along the Johannis promenade (popularly Ratzenwall ) to reach the Plauer- or Luckenberger Tor after about 200 meters.
Course of the rampart system
The wall double ditch system in front of the southern to northwestern wall section had the following course:
Starting from the Lower Havel opposite today's Heinrich-Heine-Ufer, two approximately parallel trenches drew up to the Plauer or Luckenberger Tor and crossed under the bridge and weir system in front of the gate. This section was drained and filled in between 1840 and 1850. The area was planted, which from now on was called Johannispromenade or Ratzenwall and was used by cloth makers in a narrow area along the wall in the 19th century to set up their cloth frames. In 1869, on the occasion of Alexander von Humboldt's 100th birthday, this area was named Humboldthain and is now a location and educational trail for rare and exotic trees. The bust of Humboldt mentioned by Grasow, which was erected there in 1869, has been lost. The picture on the right shows the Marienberg or Harlungerberg in the background, with station no.7 of the Prussian optical telegraph on its top . The gate bridge in front of the Plauer or Luckenberger Tor is visible below the telegraph station. The Plauer or Luckenberger gate tower stands as a tower stump at the top right of the picture.
From the Plauer or Luckenberger Tor, the 500 meter long wall section ran to the Rathenower Tor. This section, formerly known as the Kurfürstenwall , is still in very good condition today as Der Wall , although the two trench floors are above the level of the water level and are therefore accessible. At its highest point, the central wall rises about seven to eight meters above the accompanying trench floors.
The third and last section of the rampart system accompanied the city wall to the bishop's court and then moved 330 meters further northeast to the foothills of the so-called Kleiner Beetzsee , the Brandenburg Niederhavel . The outer of the two trenches was the so-called Syndikatsgraben .
In 1784 trenches and ramparts were filled. On the orders of Frederick the Great one was circular garden created in which the respective tenants to plant both precious fruit trees and the fruit had to give at moderate prices to the population, as were also obliged to inform the population in the fruit tree grafting. Between 1910 and 1913 the district garden was converted into a park, which was called Kaiser-Otto -Ring by the National Socialists and which today bears the name Walther-Rathenau- Platz again.
Preserved wall sections
After the importance of the city wall became obsolete in the late Middle Ages due to the use of highly effective firearms and cannons, the wall was used as an excise wall from 1669 to control and tax the import and export of goods. At the same time, since the soldier king took office, it served as an escape barrier for soldiers stationed in Brandenburg an der Havel.
After these functions were finally done with the Stein-Hardenberg reforms from 1809, large areas of the wall were torn down in order to make room for urban expansion. Communications accompanying the wall were often leased to the local residents by the city . However, some of the wall sections were preserved because they offered a comfortable and already existing property boundary.
In the old town of Brandenburg an der Havel, such intact wall sections can be found between the Niederhavel (southwest border of the former Franciscan monastery grounds) to Plauer Straße (Plauer- or Luckenberger Tor), between Rathenower Tor and the former Bishop's Court, along the Havel from the former old town water gate to Gasse Kommunikation , from there in fragments to the development of the property on Ritterstrasse.
Neustadt Brandenburg
History and shape
The history of the origins of the wall ring of the new town coincides with that of the old town. The new town of Brandenburg an der Havel, however, in contrast to the old town down to a marginal population center called Stutz village (Villa Stutz in the area of today's road course German Village ) was based on no previous settlement but by Margrave - askanischen locators was created on schedule and almost circular, was Well protected by the surrounding marshland. It was therefore not necessary to create pronounced ramparts. The various uses of the wall segments can be well studied on large parts of the preserved city wall of the Neustadt Brandenburg an der Havel. Partly it was broken through with smaller openings that were later walled up again or with gates, and partly it was incorporated into the facade of houses.
The city wall of the new town was once 2210 meters long and also had five gates:
- the stone gate to the southwest,
- the new gate of the new town in front of the southeast bridgehead of the long bridge over the Havel with the adulterer gate tower ,
- the new town mill gate to the cathedral island to the northeast,
- the neighboring Neustadtisches Wassertor (which, according to Grasow, should also have been reinforced with a tower) to the Brandenburg city canal , which is fed by the waters of the Oberhavel and
- the Painker, Lehniner, or later St. Annentor to the southeast.
Thus, the city wall of the new town of Brandenburg an der Havel had five proven gate towers.
Course of the city wall of the new town
Starting from the stone gate, the wall ring moved along today's Grabenpromenade and Wollenweberstraße to the New Gate of Neustadt. In front of this wall was a system of three moats. The outermost ditch is the Pumpergraben, which still exists today, which divides and forms the small Schiller Island. This ditch bends in the middle of the Grabenstrasse to the northwest and immediately afterwards to the southwest in a small weir and flows into the Niederhavel under the Gottfried-Krüger Bridge (abdominal pain bridge). The so-called Schleifergraben , which ran under the main road and led into the mill basin on Mühlendamm , ran towards the wall . It was backfilled in 1900. This complex is the only section of the city wall of the new town that was also protected by a wall-like structure.
The new gate of the new town was located with the adulterer's gate tower at the height of the current confluence of Lindenstrasse with Hauptstrasse. Following the train on Lindenstrasse, the wall reached the Neustadtisches Mühlentor at the end of Kleine Münzenstrasse and opened about 100 meters to the southeast behind it, at the beginning of the Deutsches Dorf street , to the Neustadtisches Wassertor. The restaurant "Zur Dominsel" was built at the height of the water gate, which integrated the course of the wall into its rooms. Both a brick band on the floor and a wall bar running through the middle of the guest room reproduce the course of the wall. In the entrance area, a window provides a view of the foundations of the oldest wall from the 14th century.
From here, the wall ring reached almost two thirds of the course of the road, following the German village , the Malerker-, Lehniner-, or later St. Annentor. It should be noted that in this area the wall ring was later moved forward about 100 meters towards the south-east and the St. Annentor, which was built in the new gate area, took over the function of the Lehniner gate or pain ker gate, i.e. is not congruent with the old gate system . From there, the city wall runs along the lock canal built under Elector Joachim I above today's St. Anne's promenade back to the Steintor.
Preserved wall sections
The city wall in the area between the Steintor from the level of Wollenweber and the corner of Kurstrasse to the breakthrough in the course of Havelstrasse, which was created at the end of the 19th century to make it easier for residents of Havelstrasse to access the Neustadt, is very well preserved. Along the Wollenweberstraße, well-preserved remains of the wall as property boundaries move over to the main street. The course of the Wall along the adjoining Lindenstrasse fell into disrepair between 1949 and 1990, but was partly rebuilt, partly secured and stabilized after the fall of the Wall . In the area to the west of the Neustadt Mühlentorturm, a part of the old excise wall has reappeared after some houses have been demolished and is also being secured. The section of the wall, Deutsches Dorf, in the last third of the street to St. Annenstrasse, was in severe decline during the GDR era and was bricked up again at base level and left visible after the fall of the Wall. The wall is in very good condition again above the St. Annenpromenade up to almost its connection to the stone gate tower.
administration
The city wall and gate towers have so far been looked after by the city museum of the city of Brandenburg an der Havel. In the course of restructuring, however, consideration is being given to subordinating these structures to the monument office (Department IV of the city administration - urban development and construction).
Remarks
The geographic coordinates refer to a central and well-preserved section of the city wall of the Neustadt at the height of the Grabenpromenade.
literature
- Friedrich Grasow: Brandenburg, the millennial city - A walk through the culture and architecture of past centuries . published by the city of Brandenburg; Brandenburg an der Havel 1928
- Chronicle of the city of Brandenburg . Ed. from the Urban History Working Group of the City of Brandenburg an der Havel in the Brandenburgischer Kulturbund e. V., Verlag B. Neddermeyer Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-933254-40-X
- Marcus Cante: Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany, Monuments in Brandenburg, City of Brandenburg an der Havel, Volume 1.1 Dominsel-Altstadt-Neustadt . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft Worms am Rhein 1994, ISBN 3-88462-105-X
- Prussian Landbote, journal for politics, economy and culture, listed at the German National Library, ISSN 1613-8910 , special edition Vanished Treasures of the City of Brandenburg . Brandenburg an der Havel 2003
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Friedrich Grasow; Brandenburg, the millennial city - A walk through the culture and architecture of past centuries; Self-published by the city of Brandenburg; Brandenburg an der Havel 1928, p. 11
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 30.1 ″ N , 12 ° 33 ′ 27.1 ″ E