Nalbertor

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The Nalberturm in Retz

The Nalbertor was, together with the Znaimertor, one of the two city ​​gates of Retz in Lower Austria . The associated gate tower , the Nalberturm , dates from around 1300 and is only partially preserved.

history

The city of Retz was founded in the immediate vicinity of Retz's old town and laid out according to plan. The two city gates in the Nalberturm and the Znaimerturm also date from around 1300.

However, the Nalberturm lost its importance as a gate tower after the city was conquered by the Hussites in 1425 and the subsequent reconstruction. To the east of the Nalbertor, the city wall was broken through and a new city gate was built. The new gate was secured by the so-called "Nalbertorwerk". The Nalberturm itself took on the role of a defensive tower in this gate structure. According to documents from the Thirty Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession , it also served as a powder tower. The city armory was also located here.

After the Znaimerturm (around 1553) and the town hall tower (around 1572), the Nalberturm finally received a tower clock.

At the beginning of the Thirty Years War, the Nalbertor was closed for months for security reasons. Only after the situation had calmed down, the barrier was lifted and also in the Zwinger gardens located the Torwerks could be used again.

In view of the danger posed by the Swedish troops, the imperial order was issued in June 1639 to put the town of Retz in a state of defense. On this occasion, the Nalber and Znaimerturm were equipped with tiled roofs. The Nalbertor was closed again. After the situation eased temporarily, the Nalbertor was closed again to vehicle traffic, and pedestrians could pass through the so-called gate door. This state of affairs lasted for a year until Whitsun 1644, although Lennart Torstensson had already left the Brno area to the north in September of last year . In December 1647 the Nalbertor was finally reopened.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, it was decided on December 17, 1703, to block the Nalbertor because of the Kuruc invasions in Lower Austria. It is not known whether this measure was actually carried out and how long the gate remained impassable.

In the course of a review of the administration of the town's property and orphan's funds carried out by the district office in Korneuburg , it was criticized that the town hall had no apartment for the town clerk and no rooms for a town chancellery. Since the city could not raise the financial means necessary for the renovation, they wanted to sell the Znaimer and Nalberturm towers. However, there were no interested parties.

Because of the construction of Kremserstrasse in 1832, the Nalbertorwerk with three gate buildings and two archways as well as a large part of the Zwinger was demolished. The foundations that were not removed later became noticeable during the work for the construction of the water pipe and sewer system and had to be removed by blasting. The Nalberturm itself was preserved and was sold a little later. At an unknown point in time, however, it was partially removed to its current height. Around 1840 the gate wings were removed from both city gates, and the city toll was levied at the city gates until 1870.

In 1923 the remnants of the city fortifications including the Nalberturm, which was also renovated at that time, were placed under monument protection.

Others

  • The first urban expansion area was also in front of the Nalbertor, when some houses were built there on the newly built Kremserstraße and these were entered in the town's land register.
  • The city's execution site for the sword was in front of the Nalberturm in the area of ​​the Dismas statue . The execution of two murderers in 1776 is documented in the death register of the Retz parish. They were buried here too.
  • The Nalbertorturm also served as a prison for citizens of the city of Retz. That is why it was sometimes referred to as the citizen tower.
  • In 1714, a baroque statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the Nalbertor by the councilor, bath surgeon and surgeon Leopold Müller.

literature

  • Rudolf Resch: Retz Heimatbuch - Volume II: from the beginning of the modern era to the present , publishing house of the Retz municipality, 1951
  • Evelyn Benesch, Bernd Euler-Rolle , Claudia Haas, Renate Holzschuh-Hofer, Wolfgang Huber, Katharina Packpfeifer, Eva Maria Vancsa-Tironiek, Wolfgang Vogg: Lower Austria north of the Danube (=  Dehio-Handbuch . Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs ). Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna et al. 1990, ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 , p. 964 .