Volkacher city fortifications
The former Volkach city fortification surrounds the old town of Volkach in Lower Franconia as a double circular wall with towers, gates and remains of moats. Large parts of the complex, which has been documented since the 14th century and was largely rebuilt in the 16th century, have been preserved to this day.
history
First and second fortifications (until around 1540)
The emergence of the Volkach city fortifications is closely linked to the development of the core city. In the middle of the 13th century, Volkach gradually rose to become a community of urban character , the first time in 1258 was the term "civitas", meaning city, used. The change in status went hand in hand with an economic upgrading of the place, which was particularly evident in the holding of a central market in (and in front of) the city. At the same time, the citizens' need for protection also increased.
The first walls around Volkach were probably built around the time of the rise of the city. They made good use of the relief around the settlement and also included the Volkachbach in the walling. The first walls were at the same location as the remains of the fortifications that are still in existence today, as the town of Volkach did not experience any expansion of its area in the Middle Ages and early modern times . The prince-bishops of Würzburg exercised the fortification sovereignty over the city, the citizens were obliged to maintain the facilities.
While the first wall around Volkach was probably built primarily from the building materials wood and earth, at the beginning of the 14th century a successor was already palpable. The Volkach fortification is first mentioned in a document from 1328, which speaks of a field in front of the "upper gate". The wall was probably built from quarry stone around 1300 and closed off with two gates in the south and north-west. In 1375 the wall at the building yard of the cathedral chapter was mentioned .
The fortifications were artistically represented for the first time in the so-called Volkacher Salbuch by Niklas Brobst von Effelt . Brobst describes in the work created in 1504 the constitution of the city, which was then divided among several gentlemen. The rights and obligations of their citizens were illustrated with illustrations. In addition to the two gates, the city wall also appeared in the Salbuch, which here appeared to be made of simple rectangular blocks of sandstone .
The so-called gatekeeper was responsible for the city wall and kept the keys for the two gates and was responsible for closing the fortifications in the evening. He had to take an oath to the mayor Volkachs . In addition, the many towers of the curtain wall were used by the city community. The so-called "digestion tower" was the city prison where suspected criminals waited for their trial.
Third city fortification (until around 1804)
The first stone city fortifications lasted around 250 years. From 1540 onwards the renovation of the facility began. The driving forces behind this company were the prince-bishops of Würzburg , who from 1520 had sole rule over Volkach and wanted to secure the influence they had gained. Above all, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn , who ruled in Würzburg from 1573, invested a lot in the Volkach fortifications. Up to 1611, 9927 guilders flowed into the facility from his side , the city council also contributed a three-digit amount.
The first elements of the new city wall were built in 1540. In 1568 the walls were armored by the craftsman Hans Friedel. In 1573 a certain Hans Geiger rebuilt the wall at the Gaibacher Tor and in 1591 walls between the digestion tower and the property of Peter Schön were completely rebuilt. In 1608 the council invested money in the reconstruction of the main side with its eight towers. Before that, the two gate towers had already been renewed and equipped with porches .
The gate towers were reinforced with these porches and their double function was underlined. On the one hand, like the rest of the fortification, they were supposed to repel military attackers, but on the other hand they served as a bottleneck for the functioning of trade in the city and the collection of customs for the city lords. As the third tower, which was not part of the city fortifications, the church tower of the parish church of St. Bartholomew also performed important defensive tasks. The tower keeper lived here , who had a panoramic view of Volkach.
At the beginning of the 17th century, however, the city wall was largely in need of renovation and had to be painstakingly repaired piece by piece. In 1633, in the middle of the Thirty Years War , the Upper Gate was repaired, and in 1644 the wall from the Lower Gate to the so-called Mutton Tower was renewed, but the wall could no longer withstand the newer guns and lost its previously elementary military protective function. Swedes and Croatians conquered the city without a fight.
After the long war it was no longer possible for the city council to invest a lot of money in maintaining and modernizing the wall. Already during the Thirty Years' War the moats had been used as pastureland for the Volkach's cattle; Some of the remaining water points were still fishing. The pools that were left of the moat were a source of disease. The legend of the dragon in the Volkacher Stadtgraben, which makes people sick with its lazy breath , probably originated here. → see also: Plagues in Volkach
In 1760 the trenches were finally filled in, measured and leased to the citizens of the city as garden land. In the 18th century, the closed development of the old town began to be brought up to the kennels of the fortifications, so that the three Zwinger streets in the east of the old town were created. The Volkach people also began to break small gates in the city wall. However, this was often reversed by the city's magistrate .
Dissolution of the fortification (until today)
The city was still officially only accessible via the Lower and Upper Gate. It was not until the great city fire of 1804, in which an entire quarter of the medieval old town went up in flames, that those responsible rethought. The Weihertor in the west of the old town, which was probably previously used unofficially, has now been opened, and the Zeilitzheim Gate was also built in the northeast . Both entrances served to ensure the supply of extinguishing water .
In addition to the fire hazard, the city fortifications had become an obstacle to the increasing traffic from the middle of the 19th century. On September 23, 1870, the Vorwerk of the Lower Gate was demolished, the Vorwerk of the Upper Gate followed a year later. The gate towers themselves were also up for discussion, with the protection of historic monuments also initially discussing demolition. It was not until 1904 that the city council finally decided not to demolish the two towers that defined the cityscape.
In the meantime further breaches had been made in the fortification. In 1875 the connection Eiergasse- Gerolzhofen was established , which connected today's Spitalstraße with the newly emerging urban areas in the east. In 1913, the bottleneck at the Upper Gate was dissolved by opening the so-called St. Joseftor as a pedestrian passage . In 1930, the midwifery house adjacent to the Lower Gate was torn down. After the Second World War , further passages were finally created in the Weinstrasse and through the Rösserhaus on the right side of the Upper Gate.
The course of the former Volkach city fortifications now forms the boundary of the Volkach Old Town ensemble . In addition, individually preserved elements have been classified as architectural monuments by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation . Previous underground buildings are listed as ground monuments . Often individual towers and remains of walls have been built into modern buildings.
Gates
The former Volkach city fortification has a total of five named gates , of which only two have existed since the Middle Ages. Only the Sommeracher and Gaibacher Tor are still elements of the actual fortification, the other gates were built around the turn of the 19th century. The two older gates were also customs places where goods to be imported had to be cleared. The newer gates only serve as passages.
Upper gate
The Obere Tor (also Sommeracher Tor, Diebenturm) at the southern end of the old town can be considered the oldest element of the city fortifications. It was mentioned indirectly as early as 1328 when a field in front of the gate was mentioned. On an illustration in the Volkacher Salbuch, the gate was shown with a small roof turret over a hipped roof . The building was given its typical gable in 1597, and by 1608 a large porch was built in front of the gate. The gate led to the Upper Suburb .
The gate tower of the Upper Gate is the second highest tower in the Volkach townscape, after that of the parish church of St. Bartholomew. It is 18 m high and has seven floors . The tower was equipped with a round arched passage. An inscription plaque was placed above the passage in 1597 , which is surmounted by the coat of arms of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn. After the digestion tower, the Sommeracher Tor was used as a prison tower for centuries, which ultimately also helped to save the building.
The Vorwerk des Oberer Tor was demolished in 1871. However, there are several representations and photographs that give an impression of the buildings. In the center were the two round corner towers of the complex, with their high pointed roofs . Behind it, a broad transverse arch with an archway and arcade openings towered over the towers. A staircase led to the entrance tower on the right. 49 ° 51 '52.3 " N , 10 ° 13' 36.5" E
Lower gate
The Lower Gate (also Gaibacher Gate, Krakenturm) on the northwestern edge of the old town was built together with the Upper Gate, but was later named. The gate cannot be clearly identified in the Volkacher Salbuch , but a portrayal of the gatekeeper in front of "his" gate could show the lower gate. It would then have been equipped with a half-timbered upper floor and ended with a pointed helmet. In 1573 the Gaibacher Tor was first associated by name with the Volkach neighboring town of Gaibach.
The current tower was built in 1579 when the characteristic Welsche dome was put on and an inscription from the city's two mayors at the time was attached. The lower gate also received a gatehouse, which was demolished in 1870. Like its counterpart at the Upper Gate, it was equipped with two round towers that ended in pointed helmets. The gate is about 15 m high and has six storeys, which makes it the third tallest building in Volkach's old town. It used to lead to the Lower Suburb . 49 ° 52 '2.9 " N , 10 ° 13" 31 " E
Weihertor
The Weihertor (also Weiher Tor, Astheimer Tor) was probably the first breach in the previously closed city wall. The time is unclear, perhaps the Weihertor developed from an illegal passage of the Volkach population and was officially made a city gate around 1804. Initially, the population was only allowed to use the gate in the summer months to do laundry in the nearby Main, but these strict requirements were relaxed in the course of the 19th century.
In 1859, house no. 62 was demolished, on whose property the previous pond gate could be found. This made the passage wider. Similar to the Zeilitzheim Gate, the gate now received four gate posts that could be closed with a wooden gate. In 1889 the gate was removed and the road was expanded as a connection to the main bridge that was being built . Today the Weihertor is on Georg-Berz-Straße. 49 ° 51 '56.8 " N , 10 ° 13' 30.7" E
Zeilitzheimer Tor
The Zeilitzheimer Tor (also called Bachtor) today forms an entrance to the northeastern old town. It was probably created in the course of the city fire of 1804, when either an existing building was demolished or the breach of a destroyed property was used. The gate was only formed by four goal posts set up in a rectangle with pine cones, between which a wooden gate was built. The posts have been preserved and are listed as a monument. 49 ° 52 '3.8 " N , 10 ° 13' 39.1" E
St. Josefstor with tower watchman's house
The youngest gate in the Volkach city fortifications is the so-called St. Josefstor , which is now a pedestrian passage on the left side next to the Upper Gate. It was created after a fire in 1911 that completely destroyed the area next to the Upper Gate. The planned reconstruction led to a discussion about the relief of this bottleneck. Several drafts were submitted until the passage was finally completed in 1913. Inside was an inscription saying “St. Josefstor "attached. 49 ° 51 '52.2 " N , 10 ° 13' 36.2" E
Other preserved remains
The outer city wall, which originally ran between the inner wall and the Zwinger, has largely been preserved today. The Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments identifies remnants of fortifications on over 25 plots . Visible remains have been preserved, especially on the west side, where the terrain has always been flatter and the city moat wider. In the east there are newer residential areas today , the slope was steeper and had to be overcome, which is why most of the remains are built over here.
The preserved city wall extends from the lower gate along Storchengasse. The dense development gives an idea of the wall that once ran here, with most of the visible parts of the wall being built into the houses that exist today. The trench is easy to see. Further east, after the Zeilitzheimer Tor, a round tower stump from the 14th or 15th century appears at the corner sloping down to the south . ( 49 ° 52 ′ 3.6 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 40.4 ″ E )
The former city wall is largely built over in the eastern part of the city, but ran along the axis Untere, Mittlere and Obere Zwingergasse. Only a few remains can be seen today from Richard-Haupt-Straße. A round tower was originally to be found on the property at Gänseplatz 22 , of which there are no remains today. A large round tower stump can be seen from Prof.-Jäcklein-Straße, which is now installed in the building at Obere Zwingergasse 12. ( 49 ° 51 ′ 54.9 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 41.7 ″ E ) Another built-in stump exists in Obere Zwingergasse 2.
The best preserved part of the entire fortification begins in the west of the Upper Gate. In the Bahnhofstrasse , several round tower stumps have in the gardens of today's land is obtained. At the level of the girls' secondary school , where the wall turns north, there are still both former ring walls behind one another. A round tower stump can be found here as a former corner tower. In addition, the battlements could be preserved. The double curtain wall ends at the level of the St. Maria monastery. ( 49 ° 51 ′ 51.8 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 32.1 ″ E )
Further to the north, there is another, well-preserved remnant of the wall, which is easily visible from the Hindenburgpark. It has several tower stumps, which are mostly used today by the adjacent buildings in the old town in Badgasse. In addition, the old structure of the moat gardens has been preserved here. In this section there are also the last remains of supporting pillars that were otherwise not to be found in the city wall. ( 49 ° 51 ′ 56 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 30.9 ″ E )
The dam over the trenches in Georg-Berz-Strasse allows a view of the two particularly well-preserved sections of the former fortification. Remnants of the wall stretch along Grabengasse, including the elongated moat gardens. Most of the walls were built into the houses built on the trenches. The ring of the city wall closes in the northwest when you reach the lower gate.
Moat gardens
The so-called moat gardens around Volkach, still preserved in the west of the city, are particularly striking today . These are elongated garden plots that are used by the residents. Gardens were first mentioned in 1698 before they were fortified. There is talk of a desolate “ farmstead and little garden at the Unter Thor”. In the 18th century, the now useless ditch was largely filled in, parceled out and in 1760 the garden land that was created from it was distributed to the citizens.
Initially, the entire medieval old town was surrounded by the moat gardens. The naming of the gardens was divided into three sections, there were the "Grabengärten" (on the east and south sides of the wall), the "Seegärten" (in the west around the Weihertor) and the gardens in the "Storchengrund" (in the north at Gasthof zum Storchen). Around 1835 there were around 100 garden plots in the old trenches. On the east side, however, the city's growth began in the middle of the 19th century, and the gardens there were built after 1870. ( 49 ° 51 ′ 57.5 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 29.5 ″ E )
literature
- Gerhard Egert: Great fires in Volkach in the 19th century . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 1978-1992 . Volkach 2008. pp. 157-163.
- Gerhard Egert: City and Parish Volkach am Main (A contribution to the city history of Franconia). Part I. The urban territory from the beginnings to the end of the Old Kingdom in 1803. Diss . Volkach and Würzburg 1964.
- Gerhard Egert: From the villa (village) to the civitas (city) Volkach . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Volkach. 906-2006 . Volkach 2006. pp. 7-10.
- Herbert Meyer: The Upper Gate and its Vorwerk . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 1978-1992 . Volkach 2008. pp. 184-186.
- Herbert Meyer: Fire at the top gate . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 1993-2007 . Volkach 2008. pp. 346-351.
- Herbert Meyer: Gate and towers in the old Volkach . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Volkach. 906-2006 . Volkach 2006. pp. 112-118.
- Günther Schmitt: Old Volkacher Gardens in and in front of the city . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop. 2008-2017 . Volkach 2018. pp. 175–181.
- Günther Schmitt: House chronicle of the city of Volkach as a mirror of the bourgeoisie. From the end of the 17th century until today (= Volkacher Hefte vol. 19) . Volkach 2017.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Egert, Gerhard: City and parish Volkach am Main . P. 64.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Towers and gates in the old Volkach . P. 115 f.
- ↑ Egert, Gerhard: Towers and gates in the old Volkach . P. 116.
- ↑ Egert, Gerhard: From the villa (village) to the civitas (city) Volkach . P. 9.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Towers and gates in the old Volkach . P. 112.
- ^ A b c Egert, Gerhard: City and parish Volkach am Main . P. 66.
- ^ Egert, Gerhard: Great fires in Volkach in the 19th century . P. 157.
- ↑ Schmitt, Günther: House chronicle of the city of Volkach . P. 34.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: The upper gate and its Vorwerk . P. 185.
- ↑ Schmitt, Günther: House chronicle of the city of Volkach . P. 75.
- ↑ Meyer, Herbert: Fire at the upper gate . P. 351.
- ^ Egert, Gerhard: City and parish Volkach am Main . P. 63 f.
- ↑ Schmitt, Günther: Old Volkacher Gardens in and in front of the city . P. 175.
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