Bird gate
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The bird gate in Augsburg is part of the former city wall and used to serve as an entrance to the Jakobervorstadt , which is located in the area of today's planning area Augsburg city center .
Location and architecture
The bird gate is on Oberer Graben street, near the Vogelmauer street that branches off to the east. To the west of the gate is the Dominican convent of St. Ursula . In the direction of the city, shortly after the Vogeltor, the Neue Gang branching off to the west of the Upper Graben leads to Augsburg's old town .
The largely unadorned gate tower from 1445 is square and has four floors that can be read on the outside, but is empty inside. Externally, the gate tower is a high medieval ( Gothic ) brick building . The passage is ogival and is closed by a three- bay star rib vault with a large, hanging keystone with a rose window . Today the roof is designed as a high hipped roof ; originally the gateway had a flat hipped roof.
The tower structure of the bird gate is designated as a " cultural asset worthy of protection ".
history
Building history
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The bird gate was built in 1445 as a square, four-storey gate tower on behalf of the then Augsburg mayor Konrad Vögelin . The tower replaced a previous building at the same location, which was built in 1374/75 together with a drawbridge - over which the moat directly in front of the gate could be crossed.
Around 1880, the gate's protective function had long since become obsolete, the moat was filled in at this point and the bridge was torn down.
During the Second World War , the tower was badly hit by Allied air raids on the night of February 25th to 26th 1944, the so-called Augsburg Bomb Night , and burned down - only the Gothic archway remained undamaged. A memorial plaque on the north side of the tower facing the city above the archway commemorates this event (see details ) .
The bird gate and its tower were rebuilt by 1954, although minor structural changes were made for structural reasons. It's empty inside.
In 1966 a stylized parapet walkway , open to the city and covered with a pent roof , was added to the bird gate. It runs along the road out of town, located to the west of the gate tower, and marks the course of the old city moat and the old city wall.
Origin of name
It is not clear where the bird gate got its name from. The most widespread thesis is that it was named after the client for the construction, the then mayor Konrad Vögelin.
On the other hand, there is evidence that a bird catcher lived in the previous gate between 1403 and 1409, so that this too could have influenced the naming.
A third possibility is offered by the tradition that countless birds are said to have flown over the construction site when the foundation stone was laid.
Others
There is an anecdote about the history of the bird gate: When the new building was to be removed by the members of the city council in 1445, a representative of the city claimed that the gate and its tower were crooked. Since the builder couldn't think of any other option, he climbed the tower, stuck his butt out of one of the windows and did his "business". This fell down perpendicularly and did not touch the wall, so that the correct construction was proven. Two stone figures on the wall of the gate tower commemorate this event (see details ) .
Details
On the south side, the former outside of the gate tower facing away from the city, there is a large mural above the archway in a framed wall niche . It shows a crucifixion group .
On the opposite north side of the gate tower facing the city, a memorial plaque was placed above the archway, commemorating the night of the bombing and the extensive destruction of the bird gate in World War II. It consists of a stone tablet and shows in the upper part a stylized bird surrounded by flames. Below is the following inscription:
"BIRD GATE BUILT 1445 / AFTER A FIRE IN WAR / RE-ESTABLISHED IN 1944/1954"
On the two passage sides on the south and north side, in the middle of the wall of the gate tower and directly below the roof, there is a pilaster-like , brick and plastered wall template in the form of a large, half funnel, each of which is closed at the bottom with a group of stone figures or stone figures . These stone figures are reminiscent of the anecdote about the history of the bird gate and its builder.
Wall painting (crucifixion group) on the south side of the tower, above the passage
Memorial plaque on the north side of the tower, above the passage
Group of stone figures on the south side of the tower, at the base of the wall template below the roof
Group of stone figures on the south side
Stone figure on the north side of the tower, at the base of the wall template below the roof
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literature
- Günther Grünsteudel u. a. (Ed.): Bird gate. In: Augsburger Stadtlexikon . 2nd revised and expanded edition. Perlach Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-922769-28-4 ( digitized in the online edition of Wißner-Verlag Augsburg).
- Augsburger Allgemeine , April 11, 2007, page 34: "The proof that the bird gate is upright"
Web links
- Vogeltor in Augsburgwiki
Coordinates: 48 ° 21 ′ 58 ″ N , 10 ° 54 ′ 13 ″ E