Weidritzer Gate
The Weidritzer Tor (Slov. Vydrická brána, Hungarian. Vödric-kapu ) is the name of a former gate in the old town of Pressburg (now Bratislava ). It was located at St. Martin's Cathedral at the end of Long Lane , also known as Herrengasse ( Slov. Panská , from 1901 Szilágyi Dezsőgasse). It is named after the suburb Weidritz (Slov. Vydrica ) west of the city. More rarely, it was also called the Vienna Gate .
The Weidritzer Tor was the mightiest main gate of the former city fortifications. It was a gate that was still in the XI. Century - using humpback blocks - was allowed to be built in the Romanesque style . The gate had an extremely deep and dark underpass, which is why it was also known as the "dark" or "black gate".
The complex consisted of a long, arched structure. It stood at the confluence of the Lange Gasse on the (former) Fischplatz. A stone bridge led from the Weidritzer Tor to the Weidritz. In 1456 the gate was provided with a mighty drawbridge and decorated with the city coat of arms. In this year the gate should have undergone the first thorough change, because two bastions were attached to the gate and it was provided with a bridge roundel . One bastion is named in the chamber accounts of the city of Pressburg as the "Kingdom of Heaven" and the other as the "Leonfelderturm". The names probably indicate their builders and authors. There was both a Himmelreich family and a Leinfelder family in Pressburg. Both were respected middle-class families. The three yokes of the gate were closed by portcullis . A pestle for gunpowder and an armory was housed in the gate, and the dark chambers were used to house the city's prisoners ( prison ).
A double cross was attached to a gate pillar in memory of the great flood in 1516 when the Danube overflowed its banks and caused terrible devastation. In 1556 two sundials were made on the gate tower . At one point of the tower the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary was also attached.
The emperors and kings coming to Pressburg usually made their solemn entry through the Weidritzer Gate, with the city judge, surrounded by the councilors, handing the keys of the city to the newcomers. The last time this happened was on June 20, 1741, when Maria Theresa moved into the city as Maria Theresa for her coronation as Queen of Hungary in St. Martin's Cathedral .
In 1777 the whole gate was torn down by "Viennese wall breakers"; only a section of the wall on the north side of the gate and the moat bridge, which is now covered under the road, remained.
See also
literature
- Emil Portisch: History of the City of Pressburg - Bratislava , 2 vols., Pressburg - Bratislava 1932/1933
Individual evidence
- ^ The painter Karl Frech created the reconstruction drawing of the Weidritzer Gate according to the scientific specifications of the then city archivist of Bratislava (Preßburg) Dr. Ovidius Faust .
- ↑ Štefan Holčík: Najmenšou mestskou bránou bola Južná (Slovak)
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '29.2 " N , 17 ° 6' 17.4" E