Torre Vanga
| Torre Vanga | |
|---|---|
 North and west side |
|
| Data | |
| place | Trent |
| Construction year | 12th to 15th centuries |
| height | 34 m |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 4 '11.2 " N , 11 ° 7' 6.4" E |
The Torre Vanga is a defense tower in Trento , named after the Trentino prince-bishop Friedrich von Wangen .
location
The tower is located near the train station in Via Torre Vanga of the same name. It was once part of the city walls and was located at the northwest corner of the city's defenses. Until the river Adige was straightened in the middle of the 19th century , the river passed directly under its north side. At this point there was also one of the few bridges over the river that could be controlled from the tower and which gave it its strategic importance. Due to the urban development of Trento, the formerly important location of the Torre Vanga can no longer be traced. Today it is on the very edge of the old town between the Brennerbahn , train station and busy streets.
history
The Torre Vanga is one of the most interesting medieval fortifications in Trient. It is part of a building complex whose origins go back to the 12th century and which has been expanded and rebuilt several times over the years.
The core of the structure is the so-called Domus murata , a fortress-like building whose exact date of construction is unknown and was first mentioned in 1210 when it was sold to Bishop Friedrich von Wangen along with other associated service buildings.
With the purchase, the bishop intended to bring a strategic point in the city under his care. However, the purchase was not in full agreement with the seller, because after the death of Frederick in 1218, the heirs of the previous owner raised claims to the building, which the new Bishop Adalbert III. von Ravenstein had to publicly reject it. Ravenstein awarded the entire building complex to the brothers Friedrichs Albero II and Bertold von Wangen as a fief , as can be seen from a notarial document dated November 24, 1220. The tower was already mentioned explicitly in this document. In 1264, Bishop Egno von Eppan took over the building from the Wangen family, at that time it was already closely linked to the name of the Wangen family as Domus Wangae .
Apart from a few interruptions, the tower always remained under the control of the prince-bishops of Trento. Its strategic importance became evident during several uprisings and sieges, for example in 1347 during the invasion of the prince-bishopric by the troops of Duke Ludwig the Brandenburger and in October 1348 during his dispute with the Carraresi called for help from Trento.
The name Torre Vanga appeared for the first time in a document dated April 20, 1407, which was trimmed during the popular uprising led by Rodolfo Belenzani . Under pressure from Duke Friedrich IV , Bishop Georg I von Lichtenstein had to entrust the townspeople and their captain Belenzani with the care of the tower, together with Castel Stenico and Castel Selva, after the bishop had previously been locked in the tower by the rebels.
In 1475, under the reign of Bishop Johannes Hinderbach , the torture trial against members of the Jewish community of Trient took place in the torture chamber of the tower , in which they were accused of the ritual murder of the so-called Simon of Trient .
Over time, the tower slowly lost its strategic importance. In the 18th century, the captain responsible for him urged restoration after repeated floods of the Adige. It was also affected by a fire in the middle of the 18th century. After the secularization of the principal bishoprics, which was decided upon with the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the Bavarian government, which was responsible in Trient, sold the tower to a private buyer in 1807. But already after the end of the Napoleonic era it returned to public hands and was converted into a city prison. With the straightening of the Adige (1849-1858), the construction of the Trient train station (1855-1859) and the filling of the old river bed (1880), the surroundings of the tower changed drastically, which was once decisive for its construction and until then only was little affected by urban changes. At this time it was restored for the first time on a larger scale, during this work the old, dilapidated wooden roof was also removed. In 1889 the city walls that directly connected to the Torre Vanga were torn down and in 1911 the statics of the tower were reinforced.
After the end of the First World War and the annexation of Trentino to the Kingdom of Italy , it was briefly used by the Carabinieri as a barracks. In the 1920s, the first restorations took place in accordance with monument protection criteria and after the damage suffered in the Second World War during Allied air raids on Trento, the Torre Vanga was extensively renovated and restored between 1952 and 1961. Then it served as an exhibition space. In 1973 the Office of Culture of the Autonomous Province of Trento took over the building and set up a laboratory for wood restoration there, which was housed there until 1997.
After the last ten-year restoration phase, the tower has again served as an exhibition space for the MART and for the Provincial Monument Protection Office since 2007 .
description
The Torre Vanga is part of an almost castle-like complex consisting of several structures, which has developed over the course of several centuries. The current appearance is the result of a series of construction and restoration phases spread over different eras.
The tower built for defense is the most striking part of the complex. It is 34 meters high and has a total of seven floors. Its rectangular floor plan measures around 11 × 10.5 meters. The different building materials used for the tower shaft make it clear how different the building history was. In the lower part the masonry consists of ashlar and humpback ashlars , in the middle and upper area of brickwork . The weir platform is surrounded by a parapet with dovetail battlements.
The tower was raised several times. Originally built in the 12th century, the Domus murata consisted of only two and a half floors, parts of which are below street level today, before it was acquired by Friedrich von Wangen in 1210. This oldest part can be largely identified by the white limestone with which it was built. The coupling windows from this period , which decorate the two-story porch in particular, are characteristic .
Friedrich von Wangen had the tower topped up for the first time, using bricks as was the case with the two subsequent heights in the 14th and 15th centuries, after which the tower reached its current height. In the period that followed, further minor changes took place up to the 19th century, especially with regard to the window openings and interior spaces, with which the building was adapted to the respective needs. The heavily barred windows testify to the use of the tower as a city prison in the 19th century.
In addition to the tower, the facility includes the already mentioned two-story southern porch with the entrance, which is partly below street level and decorated with dovetail crenellations. The youngest structure of the complex is the so-called House of the Guard, built in the 19th century, which borders directly on the east side of the tower and was built in the former walled inner courtyard. The remains of the inner courtyard now fill the space between the porch and the guard's house.
literature
- Michele Cunaccia: Le trasformazioni ei restauri storici di Torre Vanga , in: Emanuele Curzel (ed.): Il codice Vanga. Un principe vescovo e il suo governo , Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Trento 2007, ISBN 978-88-7702-209-8 , pp. 75-88.
- Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nei documenti più antichi , in: Emanuele Curzel (ed.): Il codice Vanga. Un principe vescovo e il suo governo , Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Trient 2007, ISBN 978-88-7702-209-8 , pp. 51-58.
- Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nelle immagini , in: Emanuele Curzel (ed.): Il codice Vanga. Un principe vescovo e il suo governo , Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Trento 2007, ISBN 978-88-7702-209-8 , pp. 59-74.
- Aldo Gorfer: I castelli del Trentino. Vol. 3: Trento e Valle dell 'Adige, Piana Rotaliana , Arti Grafiche Saturnia, Trient 1990, ISBN 978-88-85013-33-9 .
- Moira Pederzolli: Torre Vanga , in: Elisa Possenti, Giorgia Gentilini, Walter Landi, Michela Cunaccia (eds.): APSAT 5. Castra, castelli e domus murate. Corpus dei siti fortificati trentini tra tardo antico e basso medioevo. Schede 2. SAP Società Archeologica srl., Mantua 2013, ISBN 978-88-87115-80-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nei documenti più antichi , p. 52
- ↑ Family Relations of von Wangen , accessed October 24, 2017
- ↑ Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nei documenti più antichi , pp. 53–56
- ↑ Aldo Gorfer: I Castelli del Trentino. Vol. 3: Trento e Valle dell 'Adige, Piana Rotaliana , pp. 302-304
- ↑ Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nei documenti più antichi , pp. 68–72
- ↑ Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nei documenti più antichi , p. 73
- ↑ Brief description of the tower on the website of the City of Trento (in Italian) , accessed on October 24, 2017
- ^ Moira Pederzolli: Torre Vanga , p. 249
- ↑ Moira Pederzolli: Torre Vanga , pp. 250-251
- ↑ Laura Dal Prà: Torre Vanga nelle immagini , p. 69
photos
East side with the house of the so-called tower guard
South and east side with the porch and the entrance
South side with the entrance below street level
Photo taken between 1859 and 1880 with the tower on the old arm of the river
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