Rotenturm Gate
The Red Tower (old spelling: red tower , rarely red tower , red tower , red tower , lat. Ruffa turri , ital. Porta rossa ) was part of the medieval city fortifications of Vienna .
history
The version built in 1511 with a built-in gate existed as a landmark until it was demolished for traffic reasons in 1776. As early as 1662, a new fortification with two main gates was built, whereby the name Rotenturmtor (also Rotenturm-Tor , Rothenthurm-Thor , Rothen Thurm -Tor , rothe thurmthor , red thurmthor ) transferred to the downstream one. It existed until 1858, when work began on tearing down the city wall for city expansion. Both the old and the new were among the most important city gates to Vienna, as they led to the Vienna arm of the Danube, today's Danube Canal, on which passengers and freight were shipped to Vienna. Upstream was the Fischertor , which was demolished in 1859. The Laurenzertor for pedestrians at the Rotenturmtor and the water gate leading to the Danube or the Schanzel Gate between the Rotenturmtor and the Fischertor were still in close proximity .
The red tower was first documented in 1288. Until the 15th century it was represented as a slender, square building with a pointed, red tile roof, the facade of which was colored red and white in squares. The oldest representation from the Danube side is contained in the Babenberger family tree around 1490. The Rotenturm Gate was then located next to the tower . In 1368, the striking bridge a little downstream was mentioned for the first time, which until 1782 was the only permanent connection between the city and the Danube Island called Unterer Werd with the Leopoldstadt that was built on it and thus the starting point of an important long-distance route from Vienna to the north and east. Today the Schwedenbrücke to Taborstraße spans the Danube Canal at this point , not to be confused with the Marienbrücke , which was first opened in 1906 and is a direct extension of Rotenturmstraße into the 2nd district .
Emperor Maximilian I had the tower completely rebuilt from 1511 onwards , as it had suffered damage during the siege of Vienna by Matthias Corvinus . It became a one-storey gate tower with a pointed roof and four corner turrets and an ogival roofed passage that was decorated on the city side. A picture showed Maximilian and next to him the shields of Austria and Burgundy between two knightly standard-bearers and the Viennese coat of arms in the form of a double-headed eagle with a white cross on a red shield and the year 1511. A Latin inscription read:
Quam felix urbs est, quae pacis tempore bellum
Ante oculos ponit, et sua quaeque notat
Incassum vigilat, qui custodire putabit
Urbem armes, si non arma Dei affuerint,
Sed Deus et Virtus tutantur MAXIMILIANI
Caesaris haec urbulis moen .
There was also the following German inscription:
Which compt through this port,
I advise him with true word,
That he keep peace in this city,
Or he makes him mess himself,
That two servants point
him to the judge, And beat him with stick and iron.
In the 16th century, the so-called “Bacon Side” (made of wood) seems to have been installed high inside the archway, from which it was said that only the man who was not under the thumb of his wife could remove it. Next to it was the inscription:
Is there a man anywhere here
who can speak with the truth,
That his heyrath doesn't dread him,
And is not afraid for his wives,
He may cut down those cheeks.
According to the legend, only one man ever set out to dismantle the fat side, but then for different reasons, depending on the version, neglected to avoid tearing or dirtying his pants and being scolded by his wife for it, which he said a lot Laughter brought in the audience. The side of bacon remained stuck until the middle of the 18th century. The rulers returning home from coronations or wars often made magnificent entrances through the Rotenturm Gate.
From 1662 to 1664, a new fortification was built in front of the medieval city wall and the tower with the small and large Gonzagabastei (initially Wasser Schanz Bastei ) and an intermediate curtain wall. The conversion of the Viennese city walls into a bastion fortification was completed, the adjacent Biber bastion and the Minch, Neuetor and Elend bastions had existed for a long time. The red tower thus lost its defensive role, but was not initially demolished. With the new wall, the situation of a kind of kennel first arose , from which mainly three paths led.
- The first was what was later known as the Altes Rotenturmtor , which faced northeast and now led from the Zwinger into the city.
- The new gate downstream behind the small Gonzagabastei with two passages now pointed to the southeast and took over the traffic to the striking bridge. First it was called lower exit , lower fall , Unterfall , in Italian called Porta Rossa detta L'uscita inferiore , again and again Leopoldstädter Tor , later New Rotenturmtor and finally simply Rothe Thurmtor or Rotenturmtor.
- The new gate upstream behind the large Gonzagabastei had only one wider passage and faced northwest. It was first upper traps , upper case , Italian Porta Rossa detta L'uscita superiore called and received over time the name Fischer Thor . In 1711, this was the only one that was big enough to go into the city to St. Stephen's Cathedral with the old Pummerin , the main bell of the church .
- In the curtain wall there were at times one or two gates to the northeast directly to the Danube. One was initially called the Wasser-Thörlein or water gate, another later Schanzel Thor .
- When the traffic got heavier, the Laurenzertor, pointing to the north-east facing the striking bridge, was added only for pedestrians at the new Rotenturm gate in the direction of the beaver bastion . It is seldom specifically mentioned and mostly viewed in conjunction with the Rotenturm Gate.
After the Kärntner Tor had been kept open all night from 1626, this also happened at the Rotenturm Gate from 1673. The Schottentor followed in 1706 and the Stubentor in 1717.
In 1776, the Red Tower was finally dismantled to expand the passage. Houses had long since been built in place of the medieval city wall, and behind them the traffic areas Adlergasse and Kohlmessergasse, which were closed after 1945. Around 1710, the part of today's Rotenturmstrasse between Fleischmarkt and Lugeck called “Auf dem Steig” behind the Red Tower was called “ Haarmarkt ”. Since 1830 at the latest it has been recorded as “Rothe Thurm Straße”.
According to the handwriting of Emperor Franz Joseph I published on December 25, 1857 to the Minister of the Interior regarding the razing of the city walls, the Rotenturm Bastion up to the Beaver Bastion (without them) including Rotenturmtor and Laurenzertor was the first to be demolished from March 29 to June 12, 1858 . The Gonzagabastei and the Fischertor were razed between April 11 and June 9, 1859. In 1862 Rotenturmstraße was given the name for the entire road connection from Stephansplatz to the Danube Canal; Haarmarkt and Bischofgasse became historical names.
A mosaic on the facade of the Rotenturmstrasse / Fleischmarkt house is reminiscent of the Red Tower. Today the Red Tower would be between the houses Rotenturmstraße 26 (until 1945 corner Adlergasse) and 31 (until 1945 corner Kohlmessergasse), which had no longer existed since 1945, i.e. between the confluence of Rotenturmstraße with Franz-Josefs-Kai and the buildings that run along it Tram tracks. The new Rotenturmtor should be located in front of the houses Franz-Josefs-Kai 13 and 15 on the roadway between the exits to the Schwedenplatz underground station and the bank of the Danube Canal. The Fischertor would be either on Morzinplatz or in the adjacent block of houses, Gonzagagasse 2 and 4.
map
The new fortifications in the foreground, behind it the line of the medieval city wall, some with extensions and houses.
The beaver bastion on the left. In the rectangular recess to the right the “lower fall” (downstream), the later (new) Rotenturm gate . In front of it the (small) Gonzaga bastion which later disappears. On the far right the (large) Gonzaga bastion . Between it and the old city wall is the "upper fall" (upstream), the later fisherman's gate . In the middle of the old city wall is the red tower with a passage. The striking bridge goes from the "lower fall" over the Danube . The Laurenzertor will later be located in the rectangular recess as an extension of the bridge.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Gerhard Robert Walter von Coeckelberghe-Dützele , Anton Köhler (Ed.): Curiosities and Memorabilia Lexicon of Vienna: an instructive and entertaining reference and reading book in anecdotal, artistic, biographical, historical, legendary, picturesque, romantic form u. topographic relationship Volume II, Realis, 1846, p. 290: "Rothenthurm-Thor", ( online version at Google Books)
- ^ Peter Csendes: The early modern residence (16th to 18th centuries) ; Volume 2 of Vienna: History of a City , Böhlau, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-205-99267-9 , p. 77
- ↑ s: The expansion of the city of Vienna
literature
- Felix Czeike: Historisches Lexikon Wien (6 volumes), Vienna 1992-2004, especially Vol. IV, p. 702
Web links
- The bacon side in the red tower , say.at
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 42.8 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 34.6" E