Tower behind the exit of the Möllenvogtei
The tower behind the Möllenvogtei exit is a former defensive tower of the city fortifications of Magdeburg's old town .
location
The tower was built in 1430 on the side of the city fortifications facing the Elbe . The tower stands near Magdeburg Cathedral on Fürstenwall and rises above the Schleinufer. Further defense towers have been preserved in the immediate vicinity with the Kiek in de Köken and the Tatar tower on Fürstenwall.
Surname
The unusual name of the tower, which is more of a description of the location, refers to the old, also preserved city gate exit at the Möllenvogtei, which is located next to the old Möllenvogtei . The tower stands near the southern end of the old city fortifications and thus behind the exit, which is also in the south of the city. The name is often given in other forms such as Hinter der Möllenvogtei , Hinter der Ausfahrt or Hinter der Ausfahrt zur Möllenvogtei .
history
In 1430/31 the area of the cathedral freedom was fortified militarily in connection with feared attacks by the Hussites . Six defense towers were built in this area. Including the tower behind the Möllenvogtei exit and the Kiek in de Köken north of it. The towers stood free with a height of about 20 meters. First wooden palisades and later massive walls were built between the towers . According to other information, a first wall was built in 1525 from 1530. A second wall was then built in the middle of the 16th century 12 meters on the city side of the first. The kennel ran between them . Around 1520/25 the square tower had the function of a water art for the freedom of the cathedral. In order to obtain a better water reservoir at the foot of the tower, a recess was made in the cathedral rock on which the tower is based. During the sieges of the city in 1550/51 and 1630/31, the fortifications in the area of the prince's wall were of greater importance. During the siege in 1630/31 Magdeburg was largely destroyed, but the defense tower was preserved. In 1667 the water art in the tower was restored. According to other information, the water art only existed from 1697 or even only from 1767 to 1819. The water art carried water for the area around the Domplatz with the help of a horse peg. Later one of the first steam engines was used here to raise the water.
After the defensive towers had become militarily insignificant due to the further development of weapon technology, the governor of the Magdeburg Fortress, Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, had the space between the walls of the Zwinger facility filled by engineer Preusser. It emerged casemates and above a passed-lined promenade, today Fürstenwall. The defense towers were dug about halfway into the wall on the city side. The current entrance to the tower from the Fürstenwall is therefore actually halfway up the entire tower. From a military point of view, the Fürstenwall was mainly used as a parade ground. At the same time, however, there was also civil use.
In 1820 the tower was incorporated into a bathing establishment. The Prussian garrison staff doctor Haase added a medical bathing establishment in the classicist style to the south of the tower , the basement of which still exists today. In 1859 and 1862, Dr. Lossier , Haase's successor, who ran the Lossier steam bath . The medieval tower shaft served as the staircase dominating the building. In 1881 Dr. Paul Schreiber took over the facility and ran an ophthalmological and bathing establishment Dr. Clerk . The tower was the central projection of the building built in the late classicism style. During this time, there were further interventions in the historical building fabric. The tower had large window and door openings.
From around 1900 the sanatorium was used by the later Reichsbahn as a residential and office building until it was destroyed during the Second World War in 1945. The tower remained in ruins, while the building around it largely disappeared. The medieval structure came to light again. The tower fell into disrepair, the top of the wall and the south-western corner blocks were lost. The walls, especially on the north side, showed cracks, but the core masonry was preserved.
Architecture and modern conversions
An extensive renovation was carried out with a private investor at the turn of the 21st century. Offices were built on the lower floors and an apartment now used as a holiday home on the top floor . In order to make optimal use of the small footprint of the tower, a separate stair tower was built as a concrete structure on the south side, which provides access to the various tower floors via glass structures. A small roof terrace was built on the stair tower, which can be reached from the apartment. Breakthroughs that have already been made in the past were used as accesses from the stair tower to the floors of the tower. During construction, the tower was also raised by around five meters to what was presumably the original height, based on Kiek in de Köken. The top floor was clad with metal on the outside. The masonry was made with light Poroton stones . The height above the Fürstenwall is 17.5 meters. Below the Fürstenwall level, the tower shaft extends 11 meters into the depth.
The phrase “ΑΡΙΣΤΟΝ ΜΕΝ ΥΛΩΡ”, which goes back to the Greek poet Pindar (what is actually meant is ΑΡΙΣΤΟΝ ΜΕΝ ΥΔΩΡ , pronounced ariston men hydor , in German “But the best [is] the water”) was affixed to the facade .
While the outer dimensions of the tower are 6.97 m × 6.97 m, the inner surface is only around 4.5 m × 4.5 m due to the considerable wall thickness. The wall thickness varies between 1.0 and 1.8 meters. In the area of the tower shaft, the walls are over 2 meters thick. The floor plan areas of the storeys are between 16 and 20 m². The inner storey heights were brought closer to the originally existing ones, the storey ceilings were designed as wooden beam ceilings . The northeast and southeast corners of the tower are beveled. The original irregular corner teeth of the quarry stone masonry have been preserved up to a height of 8 meters above the Fürstenwall . The newly erected roof was designed as a flat tent roof , also based on Kiek in de Köken . Originally the tower had a pointed helmet roof .
An extension was made on the ground floor up to the east-facing city wall. Such an extension already existed in the 19th century. Existing cellars of former buildings in the area from the 19th and 20th centuries were also made usable. The foundation walls of the tower itself are largely original. There are loopholes to the south and east . The area of the rooms is very narrow, the wall surfaces are rustic. There is no natural ventilation. Other sources see the 1.10 meter high slit in the east wall as a slot for air or light and not as a loopholes. The slot is 0.38 on the inside, but 2.30 on the outside. The wall thickness there is 2.30 meters. The walls are based on the cathedral rock. The water at the foundation changes with the respective water level of the Elbe. This lower area of the tower can be reached by a ladder from a wooden beam ceiling that was rebuilt in its original location. There is also a small gate on the north side. Originally, the second basement had a barrel vault stretched in north-south direction , as shown by the abutments that were still found. The vault was made of rubble from Grauwacke and Rotliegendem . The ceiling height of the second basement floor to the apex of the vault was originally 3.40 meters. Since the room was originally unsuitable for defensive purposes due to insufficient openings, it is assumed that it also served as a dungeon .
The access to the tower is now at the level of the Fürstenwall, but was originally lower. As is usual with defensive towers, access was not possible from ground level, but was probably 6 or 9 meters above the level of today's Schleinufer and thus in today's first basement, probably above the vault. The rooms below could only be reached through the interior of the tower using ladders.
The building area is 74.11 m². The gross floor area, including the practically unusable areas in the first and second basement, is 427.88 m². The enclosed space amounts to a total of 1,640.13 m³.
As a result of the alterations, the tower was able to be preserved, but its appearance has changed significantly compared to the medieval building.
literature
- Heinz Gerling : Monuments of the City of Magdeburg , Helmuth-Block-Verlag, Magdeburg 1991, ISBN 3-910173-04-4 , page 107.
- Helmut Menzel: Der Fürstenwall , Magdeburg City Planning Office 2001.
- Michael Sußmann: The former defense tower "BEHIND THE EXIT OF THE MÖLLENVOGTEI" - the renovation and use of a ruin on the Fürstenwall in Magdeburg in Der Fürstenwall , Magdeburg City Planning Office 2001, page 115 ff.
- Sabine Ullrich: Magdeburg - Städtebau und Architektur , Verlag Janos Stekovics, Halle an der Saale 2001, ISBN 3-929330-33-4 , page 57.
- List of monuments Saxony-Anhalt, Volume 14, State Capital Magdeburg , State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86568-531-5 , page 201.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ullrich, Magdeburg - Urban development and architecture, page 57.
- ↑ a b c List of monuments, page 201.
- ↑ Priegnitz in Menzel, Fürstenwall, page 21.
- ↑ http://www.stadtturm.com/
- ↑ Menzel, Fürstenwall, page 12.
- ↑ a b Gerling, Monument Magdeburg, page 107.
- ^ Sussmann, The former defense tower in Der Fürstenwall, page 119.
- ↑ a b c Menzel, Fürstenwall, page 23.
- ↑ Menzel, Fürstenwall, page 25.
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 '25.8 " N , 11 ° 38' 9.6" E