Michaelertor
The Michaelertor (also "Michaelertorturm"; Slovak Michalská brána , Hungarian Mihálykapu ) is the only surviving gate of the medieval city fortifications of Bratislava (German: Pressburg , Hungarian: Pozsony ) and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The gate got its name from the no longer existing Michaelskirche (including Michaelsfriedhof) which was located outside the city walls - in the area of today's Hurban Square.
The history of the Michaelertor goes back to the late 13th century. The earliest documented mention comes from the year 1411. The tower was actually the north entrance and the most important gate into the fortified city. This gate used to be reached via a drawbridge, the remains of which are still partially preserved. The ditch on the left is the old shooting ditch, which is mentioned as early as 1502 in the town books of the city of Pressburg . On the bridge above are the statues of Archangel Michael and St. John of Nepomuk, erected in 1897 by the then "Pressburg Beautification Association" . In the 16th and 17th centuries, the bourgeois shooting range stood in the shooting pit. Between 1750 and 1780, German traveling troops and Italian opera companies gave their performances in the Schiessgraben - in a theater made of boards.
On the archway that belonged to the drawbridge is an inscription from 1723:
OMNE REGNUM IN SE IPSUM DIVISUM DESOLABITUR
The 51 meter high tower is a brick building with a strongly profiled stone rustication, at the four corners with cornices and vertical division of the front surfaces in the style of the German Renaissance . The basic shape is square up to four storeys high, with four small corner roofs, above the tower has an octagonal cross-section. The building is crowned by an elegant copper baroque helmet, in whose lantern the bells are housed. At the top of the tower is the figure of the Archangel Michael, who defeats the dragon with the sword - a masterpiece by the Pressburg copper master Peter Eller. The statue was erected in 1757; At the same time the roof was covered with 39 hundredweight of copper by the coppersmith Benedikt Drobisch .
On the outer archway there is a stone coat of arms in Gothic style from 1515, and on the town side there is a baroque coat of arms from 1758.
The tower was once free and had peepholes on both sides so that the city garden could be observed.
The foundation stone of the current tower was laid in 1513. It was built on the site of the old, dilapidated Gothic city tower, which in the Middle Ages already rose above the main entrance to the city as a defense tower.
From 1563 to 1830, when Bratislava was the coronation city of the Kingdom of Hungary , the monarchs had to follow a prescribed route through the city. This led from the Weidritztor to the Martinsdom (the coronation church) and then through the Michaelertor to the oath square and from there to the coronation hill square .
After the decree of Maria Theresa in 1775, the (inner) city fortifications were demolished by 1778; Only the Michaelertor, a short wall next door and a 200 meter long wall near the city motorway to the Neue Brücke have been preserved. The other three gates, the Weidritzer Gate , the Fischertor and the Lorenzertor , no longer exist.
Today the arms exhibition of the Bratislava City Museum is located in the Michael Tower .
literature
- Theodor Ortvay : Pozsony város utcái és terei , Pozsony 1905 (Reprint: Püski-Regio, Budapest 1991) - Hungarian
- Emil Portisch: History of the City of Pressburg - Bratislava , 2 vols., Pressburg - Bratislava 1932/1933
- Karl Benyovszky : Bratislava - Pressburg in words and pictures , Bratislava - Pressburg 1938
- Zuzana Ševčiková-Szabová: Mestské opevnenie Bratislavy . Obzor, Bratislava 1974. 65-024-74.
Individual evidence
- ↑ In 1411 the citizen Jakob Aigner left a legacy for the construction of this tower. In his will it says: Gemainerstat Schaff Ich ain half n dreiling hewrigs weins ... to the baw Sand Michelsthurrm (Portisch, vol. 1, p. 201)
- ↑ Schiessgraben pey sand Michelstor. Quoted in Ortvay, p. 369 (see literature)
- ↑ a b Benyovszky, p. 55 (literature); see also the article Slovak National Theater
- ↑ A divided realm falls apart; a quote based on the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 11:17), where it says: Every kingdom that is at odds with itself is devastated and one house falls over the other. The quote is also mentioned in the Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV from 1356.
- ↑ There is a viewing platform here today.
- ↑ Portisch, Vol. 1, pp. 201f
- ↑ today part of the Námestie Slovenského národného povstania square (nám. SNP)
- ↑ today Námestie Ľudovíta Štúra
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 43.5 ″ N , 17 ° 6 ′ 24.2 ″ E