Nikolaitor (Eisenach)
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The Nikolaitor is the only surviving one of the five city gates in Eisenach , Thuringia . It was built around 1170 at about the same time as the neighboring Nikolaikirche and is therefore the oldest city gate in Thuringia. In the Middle Ages , the Via Regia trade route ran from Frankfurt am Main to Krakow through Eisenach. At the exit from Karlsplatz to Bahnhofstrasse, one left the city through the Nikolaitor heading east. The city gate was closed every evening until 1832.
The Nikolaitor was originally built as a gate tower to which the Eisenach city wall was connected with battlements on both sides . Around 1307 an outer gate was put in front of the three main gates Georgentor, Marientor and Nikolaitor about 50 meters in front of the defensive wall. The name Zwinger for this section has been preserved to the present day. The entrance gate made it possible to make access to the city even safer. Around 1815 the city fortifications of Eisenach were removed step by step, the Nikolai gate tower was retained at the request of the population.
Building description
The tower has a total height of 27.5 m, the footprint is 9.5 × 7 m. The tower has a doorway with a width of about 5 m and a top height of almost 5 m. The builders inserted a vault with a cast opening above the gateway to ward off attackers. For structural reasons, the structure was erected with massive walls, the wall thickness on the first floor is around 1.3 m on the field side (east), only 0.8 m on the city side (west) and around 1 each on the two sides of the tower ,5 m. As a result, little usable space remained inside, which was further reduced by the required ladders and partition walls. The wall thickness decreases slightly on the upper floors. The clear widths on the first floor are 5.64 × 5.85 m, room height 2.92 m; on the second floor 5.77 × 6.35 m, room height 3.25 m; on the third floor 6.80 × 6.60 m, room height 3.80 m and on the fourth floor 5.80 × 7.15 m, room height 5.14 m. The roof structure rises above it with a total height of 6.25 m. In the attic there are several bay windows to illuminate the former tower room, because the slit-like window openings, which are only hand-wide, were usually closed with boards because of the draft.
For traffic-related reasons, a wide passage had to be created north of the tower in 1888; it was designed in the form of a crenellated archway. The keystone used shows the cross used in the city arms. Already in 1887 the restoration of the Nikolaikirche to the north was engaged and at the same time a three-storey building of the Eisenach building administration located between the church and the gate tower was removed. After 1890 a suitable passage was created south of the tower for pedestrians. Above this, the tower restaurant was created by including a vacant lot. Until 1953, the rooms on the first and second floors, which were once used as prison cells, were still in the traditional state of construction. With a breakthrough on the south side, these two rooms could be included in the catering business, the two rooms above could no longer be used for reasons of space and security. Access was made more difficult by later internal modifications. Despite various precautions and multiple controls, feral city pigeons have lived in the upper rooms since the 1960s. In late autumn 2012, the condition in these rooms was inspected by using a camera with a lift truck in order to prepare for the next building renovation.
For the general renovation of the building carried out from 2013 to 2015, the gate passage was blocked and traffic directed out of town was diverted. During this compulsory break, there was a controversial discussion about generally closing the gate passage to traffic in the future. After the tower had been scaffolded, the walls could be cleaned of their heavily encrusted deposits manually using sandblasting technology. Then the extent of the damage in the masonry was revealed, the stability of the masonry shells was secured with anchors. The weathered stones and joints on the facades have been treated and restored. The application of a closed plaster layer (analogous to the south tower of the Wartburg) was considered but rejected. In addition to securing the wall, the roof was also comprehensively renovated in 2014, the wooden dormers were repaired and the roof drainage restored. In October 2014, the traditional tower buttons were attached to the roof ridge according to a view from 1900. Construction work on the tower was completed in June 2015. The final renovation of the pavement followed, with the remaining tram tracks in the passage being removed.
The renovation and restoration of the Romanesque gate in terms of monument preservation cost around 800,000 euros. 80 percent of this sum was financed by the federal and state governments from the urban development subsidy program “Urban Monument Protection”. The city of Eisenach was able to raise its own share thanks to a generous donation from the Eisenach citizen Fritz Walther.
The ensemble of Nikolaitor, Nikolaikirche and Luther Monument is one of Eisenach's landmarks , along with the Wartburg .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Construction files for the Nikolaitor in the Gotha State Archives, holdings "Eisenacher Hochbauakten", folder 9. Measurements and drawings were made by the Eisenach architect Mergenbaum in 1952 for the renovation carried out in 1953.
- ↑ Helmut Scherf The castle and the city - The Wartburg and Eisenach as reflected in graphic representations from the past and present. Eisenach 1967 p. 27
- ↑ a b c d Nikolaitor completely renovated , accessed on July 24, 2016
- ↑ Nikolaitor is crowned with current testimonies , accessed on July 24, 2016
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 33 ″ N , 10 ° 19 ′ 35 ″ E