Worms Gate
The Wormser Tor is a triumphal arch-like city gate , a relic of the former fortifications of the city of Frankenthal , which is located in today's state of Rhineland-Palatinate . The gate characterizes the northern entrance to the city center and the pedestrian zone . It was named after the Free Imperial City of Worms, as did Wormser Strasse, which led from the city center (market square) through the gate to Worms. The counterpart to this is the Speyerer Tor at the southern entrance to the city center.
history
At the end of the 16th century the up-and-coming community of Frankenthal, which at that time had around 3,000 inhabitants, belonged to the Electoral Palatinate . In 1573 the construction of the first, albeit still inadequate, city wall began. After Count Palatine Johann Casimir granted the town city rights in 1577 , Frankenthal was expanded between 1600 and 1608 to become the strongest fortress on the left bank of the Rhine in the Electoral Palatinate, which immediately had to stand its ground in the Thirty Years' War . 1621 siege by the Spaniards, 1623–1632 and 1635–1652 Spanish occupation, with Swedish occupation in between. Thanks to the efforts of the Frankenthal rifles , it was possible to defend the fortifications against attacking troops three times (1621, 1622 and 1644).
In 1689, during the War of the Palatinate Succession , the fortress was razed and the city burned down by order of the French King Louis XIV .
Under Elector Carl Philipp , the construction of a simple curtain wall began in 1718, but it remained unfinished. Elector Carl Theodor had the fortifications expanded and improved. From 1770 two more sophisticated city gates were built, which had more to serve for representation than for fortification. The Wormser Tor was built in the Baroque style in 1770/72. The front sides of the gate are designed differently: The former field side should appear emphatically defiant with the wide gable and double pilasters; the view towards the city is courtly elegant with flat relief decoration. The gable fields contain the coat of arms of Carl Theodor on the north side and the medallion relief of the elector in a lion skin on the south side .
The city grew very quickly in the following century, so that most of the walls were torn down by 1870. According to the councilor's resolution, the Wormser Tor was also to be removed in 1879 in order to gain better access to the city center; however, a referendum was against it. 16 councilors resigned and only the buildings next to the gate were demolished. So it could also be bypassed sideways. The gates were damaged in the Second World War , but they could be preserved and later restored.
Fixed illumination was installed at the gate in 2007 .
layout
The front sides of the gate are designed differently: the former field side with the wide gable and double pilasters should appear emphatically defiant; the view towards the city is courtly elegant with flat relief decoration. The gable fields contain the coat of arms of Carl Theodor on the north side and the medallion relief of the elector in a lion skin on the south side.
literature
- City of Frankenthal: information board at the gate .
- Volker Christmann: Frankenthal . A lost cityscape. 1st edition. Darmstadt 1995.
- Ulrich Kerkhoff (arrangement): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate . Vol. 6, Frankenthal (Palatinate). Schwann in Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-491-31037-7 .
- Anna Maus: The history of the city of Frankenthal and its suburbs . Self-published, Frankenthal 1970.
- Wilhelm Winkler: The art monuments of the Palatinate . VIII. City and district of Frankenthal. First edition Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1939, ISBN 3-422-00559-5 (Unchanged reprint by Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich and Berlin 1982).
- Franz Popp: The Frankenthal Fortress . In: 100 years of Frankenthaler Altertumsverein 1892-1992 . Frankenthal 1992.
Individual evidence
- ^ Association for the Promotion of Jewish Remembrance in Frankenthal: 17th to 19th centuries. Retrieved on November 10, 2011 (city map section from 1837 with Wormser Strasse).
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 32 ′ 16.5 ″ N , 8 ° 21 ′ 14 ″ E