Pension tower
The Rententurm is a late Gothic gate tower of the former fortifications of Frankfurt am Main and part of the Saalhof . The tower secured the Fahrtor , which, as the most important city gate of Frankfurt on the river side , connected the center of the historic city center , the Römerberg , with the port on the bank of the Main outside the city wall . The northern bridgehead of the Eiserner Steg has been located opposite the Rententurm on Mainkai since 1869 .
history
The rent tower is a four-storey gate tower on a square floor plan with a pointed helmet and four oriel turrets, making it a so-called five - button tower . It was built from 1454 to 1456 by Eberhard Friedberger . The tower is part of the ensemble of the Saalhof , the Hohenstaufen imperial palace from the 12th century. At the time the rent tower was built, however, the complex was no longer in imperial ownership, but in private ownership.
The tower served on the one hand for the military protection of the driver's gate, on the other hand for the collection of customs duties and port fees . The city prison was temporarily located in the basement of the tower, but it was filled with water when the river Main flooded. In the interior there was the wood-paneled pension room on the first floor. The large hall on the top floor, created in 1455 by the master carpenter Henze Monkeler , was considered one of the most beautiful vantage points in Frankfurt.
1715–17, according to plans by the Arnsburg Cistercian priest Bernhard Kirn, the baroque Bernusbau was built as the city palace of a Dutch merchant family instead of the river wall . Since then, the structure has been the immediate neighboring building of the Rententurm.
The tower lost about three meters of its visible height when the bank of the Main was raised in the 19th century. After the First World War , the writer Fritz von Unruh lived in the tower. During the Second World War, the tower burned down partially, the striking roof with its battlements was destroyed and the clockwork was lost. After the war, the damaged parts were rebuilt true to the original. A suitable movement was only reinstalled in 2012.
The Rententurm is one of only three preserved gate towers of the Gothic city fortifications, the other two are the famous Eschenheimer Tower (1428) and the Kuhhirtenturm (1490) on the left side of the Main.
Since May 26, 2012, the Rententurm has been accessible to the public for the first time in its history as part of the Historical Museum of the City of Frankfurt via a historic spiral staircase . Inside, metal floors are built in, which on the one hand enable use as an exhibition area and on the other hand enable a vertical view through the tower. In addition, the tower was again provided with a functional tower clock , which it already had in the past.
Web links
Individual evidence
literature
- Wolf-Christian Setzepfandt : Architecture Guide Frankfurt am Main / Architectural Guide . 3. Edition. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-496-01236-6 , p. 9 (German, English).
- Fried Lübbecke : The face of the city. According to Frankfurt's plans by Faber, Merian and Delkeskamp. 1552-1864. Waldemar Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1952
Frankfurt city fortifications : Affentor | All Saints Gate | Plant ring | Bockenheim Gate | Eschenheim Gate | Travel gate | Friedberger Tor | Fronhofturm | Galgentor | Cowherd Tower | Monk's Tower | Rent tower | Salmenstein's house | Staufen wall | Ulrichstein | Ramparts | Wall Service • Frankfurter Landwehr : Bockenheimer Warte | Friedberger Warte | Galluswarte | Gutleuthof | Kühhornshof | Riederhöfe | Sachsenhausen Control Center
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 33 " N , 8 ° 40 ′ 56.3" E