Ratinger Tor
The Ratinger Tor is the last built and only still existing city gate of the original city of Düsseldorf . The current building is not the medieval city gate, but a customs gate that was built between 1811 and 1815 in the classicist style . The need for a new building resulted from the razing of the fortifications laid down in the Lunéville Peace Treaty , to which the old gate fell victim. The new Ratinger Tor was moved around 115 m to the east, which made it possible to extend Ratinger Strasse by 60 m and create a boulevard , today's Heinrich-Heine-Allee .
Description and architecture
The Ratinger Tor consists of two almost square buildings in the classical style that are reminiscent of ancient temples. There are Doric columns on three sides . The metopes are decorated with laurel wreaths that are painted gold. The respective tympanum , on the other hand, is not decorated.
The Bergische building director Adolph von Vagedes , a student of Schinkel , had been entrusted with the de-fortification of the city. From 1811 he began to build the new Ratinger Tor, which is based on the Propylaea in Athens . The gate construction was one of his main works and applies u. a. as a model for the Neue Wache in Berlin. The work was completed in 1815.
The Ratinger Tor was added to the list of monuments on April 27, 1983 in the category of castles, mansions, fortifications and palaces .
location
Today's Ratinger Tor is located east of the medieval town center, at the intersection of Heinrich-Heine-Allee and Maximilian-Weyhe-Allee, which leads through the Hofgarten and connects the old town with Jägerhof Palace . The two gatehouses are at Maximilian-Weyhe-Allee 1 and 2 and are the only two buildings on this street that also marks the border between two parts of the city. The northern gatehouse is in the Pempelfort district and the southern one in the city center .
designation
The Ratinger Tor forms the end of Ratinger Straße, one of the oldest streets in Düsseldorf, which marks the beginning of a medieval path from the Rhine towards the city of Ratingen and on to Velbert .
history
.jpg)
_(14758617406).jpg)
A city gate is first mentioned in this area in 1397, which was built as part of the first city expansion after 1384. The previous "Liebfrauentor", named after the chapel of the same name at the time, forerunner of the later Kreuzherrenkirche , was originally located in front of the first city wall of the Aldt city . The name Ratinger Tor was first mentioned in a document in 1428. In contrast to the city gates located towards the Rhine, little is known about the gates on the land side. During the Truchsessian War , the Ratinger was, next to the Flinger Tor, the only all-day Düsseldorf city gate. In 1610 the municipal windmill, originally located in Golzheim , was relocated to a roundabout that was attached to the gate and was defensively outdated . In 1754/55 the old Ratinger Tor was given a new facade on the occasion of the visit of Elector Karl Theodor .
When the city was razed, the old Ratinger Tor became superfluous as a defense structure and stood in the way of town planning. For reasons of customs law, however, a city gate on Ratinger Strasse was necessary, which led to the construction of the Ratinger Tor, which still exists today, around 115 m further east of the old location between 1811 and 1815. Withheld at the customs gates in particular for the introduction of products excise duty made from 1817 to 1827 about one third of the total municipal revenues. With the introduction of the income tax from 1827 and other direct taxes, the urban tariffs increasingly lost their importance. From the middle of the 19th century, the Ratinger Tor had lost its customs function.
On August 25, 1925, the last French occupation troops left Düsseldorf through the only remaining city gate. On the occasion of an NSDAP rally on May 24, 1930, fights broke out between the SA and the Red Front in front of the gatehouses .
At the end of the 1940s, the Düsseldorf city planner and building department head Friedrich Tamms lived in the southern gatehouse, which the vernacular called "Uncle Tamms Hut". In 1955 the well-known gallery owner Hella Nebelung moved in . In 1986 Hete Hünermann (1939–2001) took over the premises. After it was vacant, the studio of the former rector of the Düsseldorf Art Academy and artist Markus Lüpertz was located here from 2008 to 2017 .
The northern gatehouse was leased to the Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges in 1984 and was last renovated in 2012. A representative Heinz Schmöle room with a bust of Schmöle was created on the ground floor . The building is used for board meetings and club celebrations. It is open to the public once a year on the occasion of the Open Monument Day .
literature
- Architects and Engineers Association of Düsseldorf (ed.): Düsseldorf and its buildings . Schwann, Düsseldorf, 1904, reprinted 1990
- Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf, history from the origins to the 20th century . Patmos, Düsseldorf, 1988 ISBN 3-491-34221-X .
- Sonja Schürmann: Düsseldorf, a modern state capital with 700 years of history and culture . DuMont, Cologne, 2nd edition 1989, ISBN 3-7701-1787-5 .
Web links
- Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation, requested on January 23, 2009
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the city of Düsseldorf , Kraus, Düsseldorf, 1888, in Die Baugeschichte Düsseldorf , p. 355 digitized
Coordinates: 51 ° 13 ′ 47.2 " N , 6 ° 46 ′ 39.2" E