City fortifications Rheinfelden

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Aerial view of the old town of Rheinfelden

The city ​​fortifications of Rheinfelden in Switzerland were built from the 12th century under the rule of the Zähringer . During the Thirty Years War it was expanded to include bastions , and in 1692 an artillery fortress. In 1744, French troops blew up the extensions and part of the original fortifications during the War of the Austrian Succession . In the course of the 19th century, further sections of the city wall and several towers were removed; today the old town of Rheinfeld is still almost half walled.

history

Model of the Stein Castle

The city walls were built in the course of the 12th century, when Rheinfelden changed from an unfortified market town to a town under the rule of the Zähringers . The topographical features were cleverly exploited. The old town is located on a rock terrace on the south bank of the High Rhine . In the west, the terrace slopes down to the Heimendeckenloch . This gorge, around 200 meters long and up to 14 meters deep, was created by a fault on the edge of the Upper Rhine Rift ; it was largely covered over in 1903 and converted into a green area. The Magdenerbach , which flows through the gorge, was diverted during the construction of the wall, so that it has since flowed east of the old town before it flows into the Rhine. The Zähring wall, which was eleven meters high and about 730 meters long, thus followed the gorge and the new creek bed.

There were four city gates, which were first mentioned as follows: 1256 the Obertor on the arterial road to the southeast, 1297 the copper gate in the east, 1320 the Rhine gate on the bridgehead, 1345 the Hermans or Baslertor in the west. The upper gate and the copper gate were retrofitted with towers, while the others had them from the start. Other towers were the Weisse Turm (or Henkersturm) on the northwest corner, the Petersturm and the Powder Tower on the west flank, the water tower on the south flank and the knife tower in the northeast on the banks of the Rhine. In addition, Stein Castle has existed on Inseli , a rocky island in the Rhine, since the 10th century . Using the island as a natural (intermediate) bridgehead, the Rhine bridge, which had existed since the late 12th century, led across the river. On the opposite bank, the Böckersturm secured the crossing.

Rheinfelden in the Topographia Alsatiae by Matthäus Merian (1663)

During the Old Zurich War , Rheinfelden entered into an alliance with Basel . Basel troops and allied Bernese and Solothurners began sieging Stein Castle in August 1445 in order to drive out the noble occupation loyal to the Habsburg castle . This came about after four weeks, after which the Inselburg was looted and razed in February 1446 . Thus only the Rheintor and the Böckersturm existed in the bridge area. In the following decades, the side of the castle stable facing the bridge had to be secured several times to prevent parts of the wall from falling down; otherwise the ruin served as a quarry.

Swedish troops besieged Rheinfelden for the first time in September 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. After the victory in the Battle of Rheinfelden in March 1638, they occupied the city until 1647. On behalf of the Swedes, Johann Ludwig von Erlach expanded the fortifications by seven bastions based on the model of the Vauban ski jumps by 1641. The copper gate and Hermanstor were closed so that the city was only accessible via the Rheintor and Obertor. In 1658 the Austrian garrison began repairing the outer fortifications with new parapets and palisades . Fortress builder Elias Gumpp reinforced the northwest corner in 1667/68 with a ravelin beyond the hole in the Heimendecken. Between 1684 and 1692, an artillery fortress was built on the river island instead of the castle that had been destroyed two and a half centuries earlier. The plans came from the Innsbruck court builder Franz Martin Gumpp, and the executive builder was Colonel Nicola Bertagnoni. The fort-like fortress towered over all the roofs of the city and was supplemented with log houses in 1694 .

Copper Gate Tower (or Stork's Nest Tower)

In September 1744, during the War of the Austrian Succession , the French took the city after a brief siege. Three months later they blew up the fortress, the bastions and the outbuildings, as well as the Hermansturm and the Böckersturm. Recyclable rubble was taken to France and the city was now largely de-fortified. Austria, which came into possession of Rheinfelder again in 1745, repaired the partially damaged city walls, but decided not to rebuild the fortifications. At the end of the 18th century, the medieval curtain wall had lost its function. In 1790 the ditch was filled in and used as a garden, which inspired the British writer John Ruskin to write a romantic, transfigured account in 1858 . In 1802 the White Tower was torn down and from 1810 the wall breakthroughs increased. The Rheintorturm disappeared in 1842 while the copper gate was opened again. The following year, the last rubble of the destroyed island fortress was removed. Since the end of the 19th century, a good 330 meters of the wall ring has remained (which corresponds to around 45% of the original length), mainly on the east side along the Magdenerbach.

Preserved structures

Knife tower

Copper Gate Tower

While the copper gate on the east flank of the wall ( 47 ° 33 ′ 19.5 ″  N , 7 ° 47 ′ 43.9 ″  E ) had existed since the early 13th century, the associated copper gate tower (also known as the stork's nest tower) became over the years Erected in 1359/60. In 1735/36 a new roof structure was erected. In 1915 there was an extensive renovation with restoration of the masonry, in 1967 an interior renovation with the installation of a tower room. The copper tower reaches a height of 28 meters up to the ridge and stands out for its high-contrast color scheme, with a whitewashed tower shaft and brick-red corner cuboids and window openings. The tower shaft is crowned by a hipped roof . Dents and bullet holes can be seen underneath the defensive arbor , which stem from the shelling during the Thirty Years' War. The ogival pedestrian passage in the adjoining part of the city wall to the south was demolished in the early 20th century. The top floor, a half-timbered construction encased in masonry, has largely been preserved in its original condition from the 14th century .

Knife tower

The northeast completion of the fortification is the immediately standing on the Rhine diameter tower ( 47 ° 33 '23.1 "  N , 7 ° 47' 41.8"  O mentioned), also Diebs-, torture or St. Johann storm. The nearly triangular tower shaft, crowned by a pyramid roof , is pointed upstream with its tip and keeps the current off the bank when the water level is high, which is why the ship landing was previously located in this area. The only door opening is in the south facade at a height of nine meters. Mentioned for the first time in 1451, the knife tower was reinforced in 1534 and a guard room was added in 1639. The adjacent section of the circular wall was demolished around 1900.

Obertorturm

Obertorturm

With a height of almost 28 meters to the eaves , the Obertorturm on the southeast side of the old town ( 47 ° 33 ′ 14 ″  N , 7 ° 47 ′ 42 ″  E ) is the most prominent part of the Rheinfeld city fortifications. The imposing structure doubles the adjoining houses. While the gate has existed since the middle of the 13th century, the mighty defense tower with a tent roof and ridge turret was built in 1329/30. The tower shaft is plastered, the corner blocks are embossed with red sandstone . In the wall jacket of the upper floor there are corner and wall stands that are still in their original state. An iron ladder leads from the ground floor to the first floor; from there the original block staircase has been preserved up to the fourth floor. The walls of the first floor are decorated with red chalk drawings showing motifs of tools and flowers. The Obertorturm is the only tower to have a clock (according to documents since at least 1529). The clock has always strikes about seven minutes too early. Since the gates were once locked in the evening, the farmers working in the fields in front of the gate had enough time to return to the city.

Water tower

The water tower ( 47 ° 33 ′ 12.1 ″  N , 7 ° 47 ′ 38.8 ″  E ) on the southern flank of the old town dates from the early 13th century. It is built on the south side of the curtain wall, facing away from the city. The storeys are broken through by three axes with simple stone clad windows. After the five-story tower had lost its defensive purpose, it was provided with a living room in 1814. Around 1870 more rooms were built and additional window openings were made. The tiled conical roof has existed since 1920. The late medieval stonework dates back to the third floor, the top two floors were relaunched 1897th

literature

Web links

Commons : Stadtbefestigung Rheinfelden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schib: History of the City of Rheinfelden. Pp. 29-30.
  2. ^ Hochreiter et al .: Inside, outside, there. P. 24.
  3. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 74.
  4. ^ Hochreiter et al .: Inside, outside, there. Pp. 49-50.
  5. ^ Schib: History of the City of Rheinfelden. Pp. 243-244.
  6. ^ Hochreiter et al .: Inside, outside, there. Pp. 89, 91.
  7. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 77-78.
  8. ^ Schib: History of the City of Rheinfelden. Pp. 246-249.
  9. ^ Hochreiter et al .: Inside, outside, there. Pp. 100-101.
  10. ^ Hochreiter et al .: Inside, outside, there. Pp. 151-153.
  11. ↑ Hunziker, Honegger: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 82-83.
  12. ↑ Hunziker, Honegger: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 83-84.
  13. ↑ Hunziker, Honegger: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 80-82.
  14. ↑ Obertorturm. Rheinfelden Tourism, accessed on April 15, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Hunziker, Honegger: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 79.