Ohrenbrücker Tor is the southwestern gate in the

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

Ingelheim am Rhein Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's left bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat since 1996. From the la ...

Etymology

Ohrenbrücke is generally accepted to derive from the Obere Brücke (Upper bridge). During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

only two bridges across the

Selz Selz may refer to: * Selz (surname), a German surname, includes a list of people with this last name * Selz (river), a tributary to the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Selz, Alsace, the German name of Seltz, a commune in Bas-Rhin, Alsa ...

existed: the "Lower Bridge" at the ancient Altengässer Tor and the "Upper Bridge" at the Ohrenbrücker Tor.

Architecture

The gate comprises two towers and a gothic

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

. The northern tower had been reconstructed together with the arch in the middle of the 20th century. It is assumed that at the top of two of the towers, slender upright spires at the top of their buttresses existed. The gate was equipped with a

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

above the arch. Both towers are decorated with

Lombard band A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of Western architecture. It resembles a frieze of arches. Lombard bands are believed to ...

History

The first reference to the gate dates back to the 13th century. It had been erected as an infrastructure provision for the Westerberg. Naturally the terrain outside the gate was a marshy ground fed by the Selz. It was difficult to come inside or outside the town by carts. Simply a small bridge for pedestrians existed.

Literature

* Karl Heinz Henn: ''Die Ortsbefestigung von Ober-Ingelheim.'' in: Beiträge zur Ingelheimer Geschichte, Heft 36, 1987

External links

Ingelheim am Rhein Gates in Germany Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Fortifications in Germany Buildings and structures in Mainz-Bingen {{RhinelandPalatinate-struct-stub