Sommeracher fortification
The former Sommerach fortification surrounds the core of the Lower Franconian town of Sommerach as a ring wall with towers , gates and remains of moats . Large parts of the complex from the 15th and 16th centuries have been preserved to this day.
history
The history of the fortifications is closely linked to the Franconian military history of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period . Sommerach and the other villages, which for a long time had the monks of Münsterschwarzach as landlords, were subject to frequent looting. In 1462 the margravial bailiff Georg Gebsattel had the village plundered during the First Margrave War , which also destroyed the community's archives. As a result, the monastery began to think about fortifying what was then the most economically powerful place.
The construction of the curtain wall began under Abbot Martin , who ruled the Münsterschwarzach monastery from 1466. In 1504, parts of the fortifications had already been completed because the community was the first to issue regulations for their tower guards. In addition to guarding, they were also responsible for maintaining the trenches in front of the actual wall. The parts of Sommerach that were not yet fortified at that time were, as in most other places in the area, surrounded by a so-called village hag of ditches and thorn bushes.
The curtain wall with its four gates and the moat was probably completed around 1536, almost a hundred years after the company began. In 1558 the abbot Wolfgang Zobel issued a "Schaarwächterordnung" to improve the guarding of the place. In the 17th century, however, the fortification had already become militarily irrelevant because it could no longer withstand the improved guns of that time.
The community soon put no more emphasis on the maintenance of the military installations and let them fall into disrepair. Vegetable gardens for the local population were laid out in the former trenches . The demolition of the complex began in 1822, with large parts of the curtain wall in the north-east and north-west being removed. It was not until 1903 that this practice changed and the community began to invest money in the maintenance of the curtain wall. In the 1980s in particular, the ensemble was extensively renovated . Today the former fortification forms the boundary for the building ensemble of the town center of Sommerach, and the individual elements are also listed as monuments .
Gates
The fortifications had a total of four gates, which were oriented towards the neighboring towns of Gerlachshausen / Münsterschwarzach , Dettelbach or the Main , Volkach and Nordheim am Main . Two of the gates are still completely intact. The layout of the gates established the main axis of the village in the early modern period, so that Sommerach is still characterized today by the road cross formed by the gates (Hauptstraße, Schwarzacher Straße, Lindenallee, Volkacher Straße, Nordheimer Straße).
Schwarzacher Tor
The oldest gate within the village fortifications is the Schwarzacher Tor in a north-easterly direction. It was created as early as 1486, as evidenced by an inscription on a coat of arms stone above the passage. The gate was used as a poor house for the community for a long time , and later it was even used to store grain stores. In the 19th century, the demolition of the gate was discussed at times, the decision of the district office to leave the building, led to a rethink in the community.
The Schwarzacher Tor presents itself as the most powerful element of the fortification. It is two-story and ends with a flat hipped roof . The gate was built from rubble stones . After the gate was often affected by car accidents in the 1970s, those responsible soon managed to divert traffic around the Sommeracher Altort. It was then extensively renovated in 1980. 49 ° 49 '38.3 " N , 10 ° 12' 21.8" E
Maintor
The youngest gate of the fortification is located in the southwest and was soon named Maintor (or Dettelbacher Tor) by the population. It was built in 1585 by a Gerolzhöfer stonemason. After a fire in 1831, the tower was rebuilt much lower. During the Nazi era , meetings of the local Hitler Youth were held here. A private art museum by the Schwarzach sculptor Theophil Steinbrenner has been housed in the tower since 1985 .
Today the gate is very similar to the Schwarzacher Tor. It is built from rubble stones and ends with a flat hipped roof. The gate passage on the Main side, made of sandstone blocks , is particularly impressive . In contrast to the Schwarzacher Tor, a cornice divides the storeys of the tower. The main gate was completely renovated in 1984 and today forms an attractive ensemble with the remaining wall remains in the area. 49 ° 49 ′ 38.6 " N , 10 ° 12 ′ 11.4" E
Volkacher Gate
The second youngest gate of the Sommerach fortification is the Volkacher Gate, built in a northeastern direction. It was built in 1536, but was sold to a Sommeracher for demolition before 1868. Only a coat of arms stone has survived, which was probably placed above the passage and identifies the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Konrad II von Thüngen with the Münsterschwarzach Abbey as the builder. 49 ° 49 ′ 45.9 " N , 10 ° 12 ′ 18" E
Rimbach Gate
The Rimbacher Tor was probably built before 1504 at the north-western exit of the town. At that time the community issued an “order of the Fürgehner”, i.e. the gatekeepers who were responsible for securing the towers. Since several gates have already been mentioned in the order and the fortifications on the Main side or on Volkacher Straße demonstrably came about later, the Rimbacher Tor must have already existed.
The gate got its name after the settlement of Rimbach or Ronobach , which no longer exists today and could originally have arisen as a suburb of Sommerach. The connection traffic to Nordheim was led through the Rimbacher Tor, which, like Sommerach, was under the control of the Münsterschwarzach monastery for a long time. The high traffic at the beginning of the 19th century meant that the gate had become very dilapidated. In 1822, Sommerach finally applied to the Volkach Regional Court for demolition. Today there are no remains of the gate. 49 ° 49 '46.9 " N , 10 ° 12' 9.5" E
Other preserved remains
Two of the towers, which were supposed to monitor the important corners of the curtain wall, have survived. They were both heavily rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1866 the shoemaker Johann Utz bought the tower in the south-west corner (Untere Maintorgasse 7). He transformed it into an apartment. Today a holiday apartment is housed in the tower after the building was extensively renovated in 1976. ( 49 ° 49 ′ 42.4 ″ N , 10 ° 12 ′ 5.8 ″ E )
Also in the 1970s, the northwest tower (Turmstrasse 23) was converted into a wine tasting room. Before that, the tower had not been renewed for decades and threatened to collapse. Only in 1935 did Paul Streng stabilize the tower by adding a roof. ( 49 ° 49 ′ 36.6 ″ N , 10 ° 12 ′ 16.4 ″ E ) The remains of a shell tower have also been preserved in Winzerstrasse 22 . ( 49 ° 49 ′ 40.4 ″ N , 10 ° 12 ′ 8.1 ″ E ) There is also a heavily modified tower of the fortifications in Turmstrasse 13, today a garden house is housed here. ( 49 ° 49 ′ 37.3 ″ N , 10 ° 12 ′ 19.9 ″ E )
The entire ensemble, which has been remarkably preserved, especially on the Main side, was threatened again in the 1980s. In the winter of 1987, a large part of the wall between Zehnthof and Schwarzacher Tor collapsed and had to be replaced by the owner. Whole wall sections of the former ring wall still exist along the village ditch in the northwest and on the village wall between the main gate and the corner tower in the southeast. At the Schwarzacher Tor, partially overbuilt remains of the wall have survived.
literature
- Marianne Denecke, Holger Denecke (eds.): Villa Sommerach. An ensemble on the Main . Regensburg 2007.
- Kitzinger Land (Ed.): Kitzinger Gartenland. Discover garden culture . Kitzingen 2011.
- Winfried Kraus: Sommerach. New chronicle of the romantic wine village on the Mainschleife. Sommerach 2007.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kraus, Winfried: Sommerach . P. 97.
- ↑ Denecke, Holger (among others): Villa Sommerach . P. 10.
- ^ Kitzinger Land (ed.): Kitzinger Gartenland . P. 44 f (map).
- ↑ Kraus, Winfried: Sommerach . Pp. 97-106.
- ↑ Denecke, Holger (among others): Villa Sommerach . P. 10.
- ↑ Kraus, Winfried: Sommerach . P. 97 f.
- ↑ Kraus, Winfried: Sommerach . P. 105 f.
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