Greifswald city fortifications

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View from the west-southwest over the historic city center of Greifswald

The historical fortifications of Greifswald existed and partly still exist around the historic city center of the Hanseatic city of Greifswald . The remnants that still exist today include the ramparts , which have been under monument protection since 1975, including the city ​​wall, and the catch tower at the museum harbor.

The fortifications originally served to defend the city. On May 17, 1264, Duke Wartislaw III. granted the still young city of Greifswald the right to defend itself and to erect a protective wall; this included the right to erect fortifications such as ramparts, ditches and towers.

The historic city center of Greifswald seen from the north. Colored reprography of a copper engraving from the 17th century.

City wall, rampart and moat

Greifswald in the Middle Ages (reconstruction by Theodor Pyl based on historical records)

In 1275, the approximately 2.7 km long brick wall, which is partly preserved to this day, was built on the inner city wall; the excavation for the inner wall also created the inner ditch in front of the wall. The middle wall (main wall) was not raised until the 14th century; the earth for the main wall was largely the excavation of the middle ditch that was in front of it and about 2.1 km long (the middle ditch was also the inner moat, as the inner ditch was not watered). The lower outer wall including the outer moat in front of it lay outside the area of ​​today's Goethestrasse and Bahnhofstrasse. On the north side of the city, the river Ryck and in the north-west also the former Ryckteich (Boltenhäger pond) offered natural protection, so that no further walls and ditches were necessary here.

Ground plan of Greifswald 1760
Greifswald's floor plan 1842. The changes to the ditches are clearly visible

The fortifications had to pass their first practical test in the First War of the Rügen Succession , when Prince Heinrich II of Mecklenburg came to the gates of Greifswald on August 16, 1327. Since they could not do anything against the defense of the Greifswalds, the Mecklenburgers had to move on.

Discontinuation of the defensive purpose and changes from the 17th century.

The fortifications of the city had not been able to cope with the advancing firearm technology since the 17th century.

During the Second Northern War in 1659, two attacks by the Brandenburgers under the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm were repulsed under Burchard Müller von der Lühne .

Almost twenty years later the tide turned. After the successful siege and capture of the city by the Brandenburgers in November 1678 in the course of the Northern War , the fortifications were repaired again. For this purpose, stones from the Eldena monastery were used again, which became more and more a ruin.

In the period that followed, the fortifications fell into disrepair. In addition, in the decades that followed, many, especially poor, citizens built small one-story houses on the city wall, the back wall of which formed the wall. The wall was removed down to the height of the houses and the building material obtained in this way was used to build houses. In today's Hirtenstrasse, houses were built on the city wall from the beginning of the 18th century. In order to be able to use the wall here as a house wall, the inner wall first had to be dug up. During the 18th century, the increasingly decaying wall collapsed in various places; in other places it was allowed to break it off. At the beginning of the 19th century, the middle city wall in the area between the Fangenturm and the Mühlentor, now known as the "Schießwall", was demolished in order to fill the cemetery laid out in 1817/18 in today's Wolgaster Strasse; The parts of the city wall that had remained until then were also torn down in this area. In the middle of the 19th century the city bought the houses built on the northern city wall (see above) and from 1856 had them demolished, including the wall, in order to be able to widen the bulwark, i.e. the storage space in the port area. Other sections of the wall were demolished towards the end of the 19th century, especially as part of the construction work at Greifswald University .

As early as the 19th century, the moat was used to drain the part of the city center south of Langen Strasse as well as the mill, butcher and Vettenvorstadt; the northern part of the city center, however, was drained directly into the Ryck.

Construction of the permanent bridges over the moat

Bridge over the moat in Rubenowstrasse
Bridge over the city moat in Martin-Luther-Strasse

In the 19th century, however, the fixed bridges over the moat, which replaced the wooden bascule bridges, were built: in 1800 the bascule bridge at Steinbeckertor was replaced, in 1801 the bridge at Fettentor followed, in 1819 at Mühlentor and in 1836 at Fleischertor; In 1878 and 1887, bridges were built over the moat for the first time in Rubenowstrasse and today's Martin-Luther-Strasse. In 1903 the Steinbeck Bridge was built from concrete; the pedestrian bridge to today's Goethestrasse ( named Am Graben at the beginning of the 20th century ) has existed since 1910.

Changes since World War II

During the Second World War, an air raid corridor was laid out in the eastern end of the central city wall, which was only rediscovered in April 2008 and which will serve as a bat quarter in the future. 1974 to 1976 the new canteen was built on Schießwall; In the Hirtenstrasse, the houses built on the city wall at the beginning of the 18th century and now dilapidated were demolished from 1974 to 1977. Since the inner wall had been removed when it was built (see above) and the wall was no longer stable without the houses that functioned as supports, the wall had to be torn down as well.

Today's figure at the turn of the millennium

Wall and moat
Wall bridge over Rubenowstrasse
The weir in Greifswald's moat near Hafenstrasse

Today's wall and moat are the remnants of the central city wall and the central moat. The trees on the wall were only planted when the wall had already lost its defensive purpose: the first poplars were planted in 1787, although they were auctioned in 1819 and replaced by chestnuts. In the area between Mühlentor and Fleischerstraße they still form the “chestnut wall” today. To the west of it begins the "Lindenwall", on which the oldest trees of the wall today stand. The moat runs from the Ryckgraben in the north-west of Greifswald, with which it is connected by a pipe, in a southerly direction over the grounds of the zoo and past the building of the district and finance court to Langen Strasse. The next remaining section runs from across Langen Straße to the bus station on Bahnhofsplatz, built in 1982. The longest remaining section runs from the east of the bus station , where there is a tributary from the Fleischerwiese, along the wall to the south of the street Am Mühlentor . As part of the renovation and expansion of the city moat as a receiving water for rain drainage in the years 1980 to 1984, large stretches of the moat were enclosed in a concrete canal. The water passes through a 100 m long cased portion from, opens the east of the 1973/74 Hanse ring built into the trench to the junction Holzgasse parallel to Hansering, then in north-northeast direction by a weir flows, and finally through a pumping station in drains the Ryck. The last part of this moat no longer corresponds to the original course of the central city moat, but runs further east.

While the sediment entry into the trench in historical times was mainly due to the erosion of its steep slopes, since its use in the context of the rainwater sewer system at the beginning of the 20th century, sediment has mainly been brought in by the rainwater that was discharged; in 2004, 20 years after its renovation, more than half of the city moat was filled with sediment again.

City gates

The historic Greifswald had four main gates: in the south the Fleischertor ( valvam Carnificum ), in the east the Mühlentor, in the west the Fettentor (Low German Vettendor ) and in the north the Steinbeckertor (formerly also called Stralsunder Tor), which was actually a "water gate", but because of its size it was used as a “Landtor”.

After the fortifications had become largely useless (see above), the city gates were also no longer maintained. After an inspection in August 1772, the Steinbeckertor and the Fettentor in particular were found to be in dire need of repair; Except for makeshift repairs, apparently no repairs were made.

In April 1798 it was decided to demolish the mill gate, which was carried out in March 1800. In 1805, the construction of a new gate began in its place, which served "to decorate the city", but also as a customs post.

In December 1813 the butcher's gate was demolished due to its disrepair; a new gate was built in its place in the summer of 1817 and was completed in December 1817. The demolition of the upper part of the Steinbeckertor was decided in December 1816 and implemented in spring 1817; in the summer of 1820 the lower part, which had since fallen into disrepair, had to be demolished. A decision was made to build a new building in 1831; The building project was not implemented until 1833.

The two dilapidated upper floors of the Fettentor, which was the only one of the gates originally to have four floors, had already been demolished around 1778. It was restored again from 1840 to 1842, but then demolished in September 1867 as part of a road widening.

Remnants of the foundation of the mill gate discovered during construction work in 2014

Of the three still standing city gates built in the 19th century, the butcher's gate in 1868 and the mill gate in 1872 were sold for demolition to a master bricklayer who continued to use the demolition material.

The demolition of the remaining Steinbeckertor was finally decided on January 19, 1951 and carried out in the spring. Only the names of the former suburbs (Fleischervorstadt, Mühlenvorstadt, Fettenvorstadt and Steinbeckervorstadt) as well as street names (Fleischerstraße, Steinbeckerstraße and - after the subdivision and renaming of the "Street of Friendship" into "Lange Straße", "Schuhhagen" and " At the mill gate "- the latter at the mill gate).

Fan tower

The restored fan tower

In addition, the city wall several towers, including the built from 1270 to 1280 and used as a prison tower Catch Tower (had turris Captivorum , Vangentorn), who had originally four storeys, as well as probably collapsed or in the 18th century worn Rabenturm ( turris Corvorum , Raventorn) , the Round Tower, which was probably demolished between 1771 and 1774, and the Blue Tower, which was demolished in 1836.

The catch tower was initially used as a powder tower after it ceased to serve as a guard and defense facility in the 18th century . On February 9, 1775, the tower was leased to the university, which used it as an observatory and extensively rebuilt it for this purpose. After the lease was canceled on September 7, 1826, the extensions were gradually broken off and the unused tower fell into disrepair, so that the civic college decided on January 28, 1868 to demolish the tower because it was in disrepair. At the instigation of the Prussian state curator Ferdinand von Quast , the Prussian Ministry of Culture raised an objection to the city council resolution, which is why it was not implemented. Instead, the tower was partially renovated in the following years and also received the crenellated crown, which has been preserved to this day, which it did not have as a historical fortification tower. A public lavatory for men was later set up in it. In the 20th century the fan tower was empty for several years; Since the construction of the Hansering in 1973/74, it has also been separated from the historic cityscape by the street. Two years after reunification, restoration work, which has now been completed, began; today it is used by the harbor master of the museum harbor.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald-Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, pp. 5 and 7.
  2. ↑ a b c Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 7.
  3. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 19.
  4. ^ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald-Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 20.
  5. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 20 f.
  6. ↑ a b c d Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (Ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 22.
  7. ^ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 20; Horst Wernicke: Greifswald - as it was , Droste 1995, p. 18.
  8. ↑ Otto Beumer: An attempt at a medical topography of Greifswald , Greifswald 1879, p. 14.
  9. ↑ a b c Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 35.
  10. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald-Information (Ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 36.
  11. ^ Official website of the city of Greifswald
  12. ↑ Hans-Georg Wenghöfer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 41.
  13. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald-Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 21.
  14. ↑ Hans-Georg Wenghöfer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 39.
  15. ^ A b Günter Martens / Hans-Georg Wenghöfer / Peter Zorn: Expansion of the Greifswalder Stadtgraben , in: wwt 32 (1982), p. 240 f.
  16. ↑ Peter Frenzel / Jörg Ansorge / Finn Andreas Viehberg: The Greifswald moat before industrialization - a reconstruction of the palaeomania against an archaeological background , Rostock 2004 (PDF; 1.7 MB), p. 25; Günter Martens / Hans-Georg Wenghöfer / Peter Zorn: Expansion of the Greifswald city moat , in: wwt 32 (1982), p. 240 f.
  17. ↑ Peter Frenzel / Jörg Ansorge / Finn Andreas Viehberg: The Greifswald moat before industrialization - a palaeomancy reconstruction against an archaeological background , Rostock 2004 (PDF; 1.7 MB), p. 25.
  18. ^ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), From Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 11 f. and 26.
  19. ↑ a b Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (Ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 26.
  20. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 27 f.
  21. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 28 f.
  22. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, pp. 29 and 34.
  23. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 34 f.
  24. ↑ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, pp. 11 and 13.
  25. ^ Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (Ed.), From Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 24 f. and 11.
  26. ^ A b Franz Scherer, in: Council of the City of Greifswald - Greifswald Information (Ed.), Vom Festungswall zur Promenade , Greifswald 1989, p. 24.
  27. ↑ Horst Wernicke : Greifswald - as it was , Droste 1995, p. 17.
  28. ^ Official website of the city of Greifswald

literature

  • Horst Wernicke (Ed.): Greifswald. History of a city. Thomas Helms-Verlag, Schwerin 2000. ISBN 3-931185-56-7
  • Horst Wernicke: Greifswald - as it was , Droste 1995. ISBN 3-7700-1015-9
  • Franz Scherer / Hans-Georg Wenghöfer: From the fortification wall to the promenade , Greifswald 1989 (published by the Greifswald City Council - Greifswald Information).
  • Uwe Kiel / Michael Lissok / Hans-Georg Wenghöfer: From the city fortifications to the wall promenade. The history of the Greifswald Fortification Works and their transformation into an urban green area , published by the City of Greifswald, 2009. ISBN 978-3-9810677-6-7