Johannistor (Jena)

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The Johannistor
Wooden stairs inside

The Johannistor is the only largely preserved city gate in Jena, Thuringia . As part of the old city ​​wall , it is connected to the powder tower via a reconstructed battlement . Only at the beginning of the 19th century, as a result of the increasing traffic load, the outer entrance gate was removed. Until the demolition of the houses on the south side of Johannisstrasse in June 1969, the Johannistor was the only western entrance to Jena old town.

The western gate tower was first mentioned in a document in 1304. In the 15th century, it was converted according to a late Gothic model and an oriel was added . The tower has a square floor plan with an edge length of 7.72 mx 7.85 m. The total height is 31.70 m. The only access to the tower was from the battlements of the city wall via a narrow gate 7.75 m above the ground. Inside, the following floors are accessed by ladders and stairs. There is a stone vault above the passage of the gate, in the center with a cast opening. The other floors are closed with wooden beams and ceilings. The stone tower pyramid, the roof of the tower, has a height of 9.20 m, it sits on the indicated walkway, which is 22.50 m above the ground. According to the building report, the tower has a total weight of 2,181 tons. The spire, which was designed as a gable flower , always carried a weather vane .

The interior of the tower is mostly illuminated by narrow slotted windows, and there are also several openings in the top of the tower as a smoke outlet. In the Middle Ages, the tower was used by the city guard, who also had to guarantee the fire guard for the city area.

A bay window protrudes from the tower facade on stone console stones; it is popularly called a cheese basket . Once a figure of a saint adorned the tower, it was placed under a stone canopy , remains of which can still be seen. A comprehensive renovation of the gate was carried out in 1816, the last was completed in 2001.

Outside the gate was the Johannisvorstadt , one of the four former suburbs of Jena. A trade route led further west to Weimar and Erfurt . Within the city is via the Johannisstraße the Church of St. Michael .

The Philistine Fountain , built in 2004, and the Jentower are in the immediate vicinity .

There is a custom among students from Jena not to go through this gate because, according to a superstition, if you walk through this gate you will not pass the next exam.

View from the Johannistor

Web links

Commons : Johannistor (Jena)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Jena . In: Paul Lehfeld (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Thuringia. Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach. District court district Jena . Issue 1. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1888, Die Jenaer Stadtbefestigung, p. 156-57 .
  2. Hans-Reinhard Hunger: Jenaer Johannis-Tor: Tension compensation and securing for the city tower - use of fabric instead of the usual measures. (PDF; 541 kB) (No longer available online.) 2003, pp. 33–35 , archived from the original on October 15, 2007 ; Retrieved April 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.statik-weimar.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 45.8 "  N , 11 ° 35 ′ 2.6"  E