St. Pölten city wall

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The city of St. Pölten, surrounded by its walls, can be seen on the lower of the two images, 1679.

The St. Pölten city wall was the city ​​wall of the Austrian city of St. Pölten for about 600 years . The fortification was probably built from 1253 to around 1286 and existed until the middle of the 19th century.

It consisted of a thicker inner wall, followed by a kennel about 4 m wide, then a thinner outer wall, finally a 16 m wide city ​​moat and, on the outside, another wall. The inner walls were provided with several multi-storey and fortified towers and had three large city ​​gates with porches.

Only a few remains of the fortification have survived, but they have been captured in photos and numerous historical portraits. The remains are two kennel towers in the Dr.-Karl-Renner Promenade and a short section of the wall in the same street.

Urban development St. Pöltens

In the time immediately after the fortifications were built, numerous pieces of land within the walls were still fallow. Only after the wall was built did more people settle in St. Pölten. The number of houses in St. Pölten rose by more than 50% from 1324 to 1367. So only for the second half of the 14th century can one speak of a seclusion of the first stage of the structural development of the old town.

Dating of the start of construction and the completion of the wall

The construction of the fortification began in the middle of the 13th century, probably from 1253. This date is assumed because that year the prince-bishop of the Diocese of Passau , Berthold von Pietengau , was granted his cities St. Pölten and Eferding in an arbitration award to be fortified in a way that seemed useful to his church, him and his successors. In 1276 the permit was confirmed again by King Rudolf von Habsburg and a document from 1284 reports the financial burden on the St. Pölten monastery, which had to build the wall section from Kremser to Wiener Tor and, as a result, to ensure the necessary billeting. The St. Pölten town wall was completed, so it is assumed, in 1286 at the latest. This is the year since 1286 for the first time and since then there have been reports of buildings that are said to have been “within the town walls”.

Components of the fortification

The higher tower on the left was the gate tower of the Linzer Tor, in the center of the picture the city moat, in it the fortified porch of the Linz Gate, which was connected to the city and the bank outside by stone bridges, 1792.
Walls, kennels and moats

From the beginning, the fortification consisted of a first defensive wall (the Bering ) which was 1.5 m thick and bounded the city . This first, relatively high wall ring was probably already completed at the end of the 13th century and provided with small towers. By the end of the 15th century, the complex was expanded and by then had assumed its final shape. A 4 m wide open space, the kennel, was connected to the inner, larger wall. On the other side of the kennel there was a smaller, second defensive wall (the Zwingermauer ) only 0.6 m thick , which was only built in 1548 . Adjacent to this, the facility was surrounded by a city moat that was around 16 m wide, at times carrying water. The city moat was once again surrounded by a counter wall.

The Kremsertor, around 1810
Towers

The fortifications included a number of towers, such as the Big Tower at the end of Heßstraße (today Heßstraße 14), the Ledererturm at the end of Ledererstraße or the Teichturm . The thick tower was not equipped with a gate, but served exclusively as a defense system. Before it was demolished, it stood at least until 1860. In addition to the fortified city gates, there was another passage in the area of ​​the Ledererturm (also known as the water tower ), which, however, was mainly used for the pig drive , the so-called Sautor or Mockentor . The Ledererturm was four storeys high and thus protruded far beyond the city wall. Where it stood, the wall was additionally reinforced with a semicircular bastion, which also resulted in a bulge of the city moat to the south. The Ledererturm was connected to the area beyond the city moat by a channel through which the Ledererbach flowed into the tower vault and then through the city of St. Pölten. Above the gutter there was a footbridge with a railing, over which the town swineherd is said to have driven the pigs to the town pasture. In 1807 the Ledererturm was demolished, but after protests by the population, it was not until 1817 that the city wall was broken through and a new gate to the outside was opened at this point. A gate tower , the pond tower , was located north of today's Am Bischofsteich square (adjoining the corner house of today's Klostergasse and Park Promenade). It was demolished in 1871 following an initiative by the St. Pölten Beautification Association.

Gates
Part of the city gates of the Vienna Gate, before 1887

There were three large main gates through which one could enter and exit the city: the Kremser Tor (previously known as porta Chremsensis ) in the north, the Wiener Tor ( porta wiennensis ) in the east and the Linzer Tor (previously porta superior , then Wilhelmsburger Tor , then Linzer Tor) in the southwest. The St. Pölten Canons' Monastery was responsible for maintaining the Kremser Tor . Built in the 13th century, the Kremser Tor was first mentioned in the land register of 1324. It consisted of a gate tower (at the height of today's Kremsergasse 41) and a built in the 16th century Vorwerk . This Vorwerk lay like an island in the ditch and was connected by two stone bridges with the gate tower and on the other side with the road to Krems . In 1816 the Vorwerk was torn down and the space in front of the gate tower was leveled. The gate tower was demolished in 1857 during the construction of the Western Railway . The Kremsergasse in the city was originally just a side street and only developed into a busy and central street in the old town after the construction of the St. Pölten main station . The Linzer Tor (east of today's Linzer Straße 30 and 32) consisted of a high gate tower built in the 13th century and a polygonal porch built in 1548 . This porch was demolished in 1803/04, the tower not until 1835. The Vienna Gate was also built in the 13th century and had two gate towers. The inner, tall and narrow tower (at the height of today's Wiener Straße 46a, 46b and 47) had a massive substructure that was about as high as the houses surrounding it. Out of town, i.e. east of this tower, there was a gate with two gate openings, on the roof of which a covered corridor ran. This was followed by the kennel, and once again outside was the outer gate tower. The Wiener Tor was demolished between 1778 and 1787, and subsequently the houses at Wiener Straße 48, 49, 50 and 51 were built.

Demolition of the facility

The location of the former fortification can still be clearly seen on this city map from 1887.

In 1848 it was decided to tear down the city wall in order not to hinder the city's growth any further. At the time of its existence it defined the extent of St. Pölten and the streets that were built in its place still mark the boundaries of St. Pölten's old town. Outside the complex, hardly any buildings were erected until 1848. Exceptions were the mills along the Mühlbach, the first early industrial settlements such as the St. Pölten calico factory , the shooting range and the infirmary . It was not until the decision of 1848 to demolish the already dilapidated and militarily functionless city wall that St. Pölten expanded spatially. The first significant shaping of the modern urban structure did not take place until the decade of the Wilhelminian era from around 1870. A city map from 1887 clearly shows that at that time very few buildings had been built outside of the former fortifications.

After two of the three large city gates had already fallen, the same thing happened with the Kremser Tor soon after 1848. The decision of 1848 provided for the removal of walls and moats. In 1849, plots of land began to be sold, and the parcels of the Zwinger and Stadtgraben in the south (between Wiener and Linzer Tor) were sold. The sale was on condition that the buyer had to demolish the wall. Nevertheless, a few parts of the fortification ring, especially on the south side, have been preserved to this day. In the south, the demolition progressed rapidly, in the north only since the start of construction of the St. Pölten main station in 1856.

Remains visible today

A kennel tower and the remains of an adjoining leather workshop on Dr.-Karl-Renner-Promenade 29, 2012.
A kennel tower of the city wall, which is now integrated into the residential building at Dr.-Karl-Renner-Promenade 29, 2011.

The remains that are still visible today are extremely sparse. A tower has been preserved in Dr.-Karl-Renner-Promenade 23, a tower and remains of the wall in Dr.-Karl-Renner-Promenade 29. The tower at no. 29, a Zwinger tower, was added to the complex in the 16th century and was located exactly in the Zwinger, which it therefore interrupted. In the 18th century, the St. Pölten calico factory built directly on the city wall added magazines and drying floors to the wall. Later owners of the factory removed the kennel, but left the factory and the parts of the fortifications that it used economically to stand. In the 19th century the tower became part of a leather workshop, which was converted into simple apartments in 1904. A housing association bought the apartments in 1963 and tried to illegally demolish the tower, which was already in poor condition. This was prevented and the entire building was bought by the municipality. In 1978 it was renovated, after which an architect used the tower as an office. The floor plan of the three-story tower is horseshoe-shaped. It has a flat conical roof, narrow windows and two rows of loopholes , which it probably had from the start. The eaves cornice was not added to the tower until the 18th century, while a round-arched entrance on the west side dates from the 19th century. Even later, a small square window and a narrow, high-rectangular window were installed on the north side. The painted cuboid decor was reconstructed and originally dates from the baroque period . The extension in the east shows the remains of the leather workshop, which is followed by short pieces of the former inner wall and the narrower Zwingermauer. The tower at Dr.-Karl-Renner-Promenade 23 was also a kennel tower. Today it is part of a three-story house that was originally built in 1850.

Exactly where the city moat surrounded St. Pölten, the promenades that have been laid out since then now lead around the city.

literature

  • Thomas Karl among other things: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. Berger, Horn 1999, ISBN 3-85028-310-0
  • Thomas Karl, Thomas Pulle (ed.): City in its prime. 850 years of the city of St. Pölten. Magistrate of the City of St. Pölten, St. Pölten 2009

Web links

Commons : St. Pölten city wall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. LXXV.
  2. ↑ The beginning of the construction of a wall, which has been handed down to us in 1247, probably concerns the wall of the episcopal Fronhof in the Kapitelgarten. Thomas Karl among other things: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. LXXIV.
  3. ↑ a b c d Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. LXXIV.
  4. ↑ a b Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 172.
  5. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 145.
  6. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 168.
  7. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 121 and p. 149.
  8. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 152.
  9. ↑ Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 226.
  10. ^ Thomas Pulle: Urban Development St. Pölten. In: Thomas Karl, Thomas Pulle (Hrsg.): City in the prime of age. 850 years of the city of St. Pölten. 2009, p. 39.
  11. ^ Thomas Pulle: Urban Development St. Pölten. In: Thomas Karl, Thomas Pulle (Hrsg.): City in the prime of age. 850 years of the city of St. Pölten. 2009, p. 39f.
  12. ↑ a b Thomas Karl among others: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. 1999, p. 121.
  13. ^ Thomas Pulle: Urban Development St. Pölten. In: Thomas Karl, Thomas Pulle (Hrsg.): City in the prime of age. 850 years of the city of St. Pölten. 2009, p. 50.