Upper Gate (Volkach)
The Obere Tor (also Sommeracher Tor , Diebenturm ) is part of the city fortifications of Volkach . Its height makes it one of the landmarks of the small town in Lower Franconia . It is at Oberen Markt 1 in the south of the city. The gate used to lead to the Upper Suburb . The so-called St. Joseph's Gate is located next to the Upper Gate.
history
Element of fortification (up to around 1630)
The Volkach city fortifications have their origins as early as the 13th century. However, before the preserved elements were erected, there were several previous buildings that were at the same location. The first documented evidence of the Volkach fortification is the location of a field in front of the "upper gate" in 1328. An upper gate requires a lower counterpart , so that the two- gate city must have already existed at this time.
The previous building of the Upper Gate was first artistically presented in the Volkacher Salbuch by Niklas Brobst von Effelt in 1504. However, no conclusions can be drawn about the true appearance of the tower from the drawings. It probably owned a clock and had a simple hipped roof on which a roof turret with a bell had been attached.
In the same Salbuch Brobst von Effelt also goes into the municipal offices that were used to guard the wall and especially the gates. The most important office was that of the goalkeeper , who had a key for the two gate towers. He also had to open the gate at night. In the Volkacher Salbuch goalkeeper Hans Rüdiger Burckart is shown how he takes the oath of office in front of the city's mayor .
In the 16th century the old city wall, which had largely collapsed, began to be renewed. The two gates had both a military function, the defense against enemies, and an economic one, in that they controlled the movement of goods in and out of the city. That is why the city council invested a lot in the gates. The upper gate tower got its present appearance with the Renaissance gable . In addition, a front gate house (also Vorwerk or Zwingerhaus) was built.
For the military function, pitch rings and pitch pan were attached, the front gate house took on the customs function . In 1597 the upper gate received its distinctive gable, the front gate house was started in 1607 and completed in 1608. Although the city bore the construction load for the building, the Würzburg prince-bishops had the fortification sovereignty over their settlement and the coat of arms of Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn was attached to the tower .
The gate was fortified again during the Thirty Years' War , although the town fortifications began to lose their military function because they could no longer withstand modern artillery . That is why the advancing Croats and Swedes conquered Volkach without a fight in the first half of the 17th century. After the long war, the city council hardly had the means to take care of the gates and nothing was invested in the fortifications.
Decline and landmark (until today)
The city retained its closed exterior for over 200 years. It was not until a fire disaster in 1804 that those responsible rethought. To quickly heranzuschaffen fire water, were breaches beaten into the wall. In addition, the Obere Tor became a bottleneck for the increasing traffic from the middle of the 19th century. The city of Volkach had a cost estimate drawn up for the demolition of the Vorwerk in March 1871, and the decision to demolish it was made on April 2, 1871.
The demolition auction took place on May 30, 1871, when Franz Weingärtner was awarded the contract for 25 guilders . At the beginning of July 1871 the outer works of the Upper Gate were demolished. The gate tower itself was not touched at first because no replacement for it had yet been found. Criminal offenders have been housed in the tower since the early modern period . Only with the conversion of a wing of the district court building into the city prison did the tower lose its use.
In the second half of the 1870s, plans for the demolition became more concrete. The Historical Association for Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg wrote in 1876 that the two towers had no "special historical interest" and supported their demolition. The Volkacher Wochenblatt argued against the tear in an article from 1875. It was feared that the disappearance of the towers would lead to "the town being made like a village ".
It was not until 1904 that the demolition plans for the Sommeracher Tor were off the table, also because tourism had increased significantly in the meantime. The solution for the bottleneck was found through a breakthrough in the building next to the gate on the left in 1913, the so-called St. Joseph's Gate, now a passage , was created. In the 1950s, the neighboring house on the right-hand side of the gate also received such a passage. The tower is classified as a monument . Underground remains of previous buildings are registered as soil monuments. The Sommeracher Tor forms the southern beginning of the Volkach Old Town ensemble .
description
Gate tower
The gate tower of the Upper Gate is the second highest tower after that of the parish church of St. Bartholomew in the Volkach townscape. It is 18 m high and has seven floors. The tower is equipped with a round arched passage. The tower is a typical Renaissance building that dates back to a redesign at the end of the 16th century. The attached renaissance gable has volute braces and sun gear or obelisk attachments.
The tower has hardly any windows and is only structured by the exposed stone masonry . There are loopholes on the lower floors , a rectangular window was only installed on the upper floor. An inscription plaque was placed above the passage in 1597, which is surmounted by the coat of arms of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn. The inscription reads: “REGIME. JULII. REVERENDISSIMI / N. PRINCIPIS. ET. DOMINI / EPISCOPI. WIRCEBURGENS / FNCIAE. ORIENTALIS. DVC IS / RESTAVRATA. AD. MDXCVII ".
Vorwerk
The Vorwerk des Oberer Tor was demolished in 1871. There are several representations and photographs that give an impression of the buildings. The Vorwerk was shown for the first time on a drawing by Henry William Brewer († 1903), who portrayed Volkach as a travel painter between 1864 and 1871. Brewer depicted the front gate from the gate tower. You can see a wide transverse arch with an archway and arcade openings . A staircase leads to the entrance tower on the right.
In a representation from 1871, which was made immediately before the demolition, the entrance gate is shown from the upper market . The pencil drawing was created by Eugen Freiherr von Löffelholz (1839–1897). In the center are the two round corner towers of the complex with their high tower roofs. The Vorwerk was entered via a bridge over the city moat, between the Vorwerk and the gate tower was a wooden walkway. The last known depiction of the Vorwerk is a photo from 1871.
literature
- Gerhard Egert: City and Parish Volkach am Main (A contribution to the city history of Franconia). Part I. The urban territory from the beginnings to the end of the Old Kingdom in 1803. Diss . Volkach and Würzburg 1964.
- Gerhard Egert: From the villa (village) to the civitas (city) Volkach . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Volkach. 906-2006 . Volkach 2006. pp. 7-10.
- Herbert Meyer: The Upper Gate and its Vorwerk . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 1978-1992 . Volkach 2008. pp. 184-186.
- Herbert Meyer: Fire at the top gate . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 1993-2007 . Volkach 2008. pp. 346-351.
- Herbert Meyer: Gate and towers in the old Volkach . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Volkach. 906-2006 . Volkach 2006. pp. 112-118.
- Günther Schmitt: House chronicle of the city of Volkach as a mirror of the bourgeoisie. From the end of the 17th century until today (= Volkacher Hefte vol. 19) . Volkach 2017.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Egert, Gerhard: City and parish Volkach am Main . P. 64.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Towers and gates in the old Volkach . P. 115 f.
- ↑ Egert, Gerhard: From the villa (village) to the civitas (city) Volkach . P. 9.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: The upper gate and its Vorwerk . P. 186.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Towers and gates in the old Volkach . P. 118.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Fire at the upper gate . P. 346 f.
- ↑ Schmitt, Günther: House chronicle of the city of Volkach . P. 34.
Coordinates: 49 ° 51 '52.14 " N , 10 ° 13' 36.53" O