The former bridge gate is the last of the 5 city gates and one of the 3 main gates of the city. The Salzstraße, one of 2 important medieval trade routes that crossed in Tennstedt, led through the gate.
According to a copper engraving by Merian, the bridge gate was originally a square gate tower with a pointed dome and a platform with battlements and a tower crown. With the completion of the gate in 1483, Tennstedt's oldest gate coat of arms was used. In addition to the Saxon coat of arms, the oldest depiction of the Tennstedt coat of arms can also be seen on this. The coat of arms stone was probably placed in the middle above the gate. This arrangement was found in the Langensalzaer Tor and is still preserved today in the Osthöfer Tor.
On March 3, 1636, the Swedes invaded Tennstedt for the first time during the Thirty Years' War, plundering and burning. Half the city was burned down within 4 hours. The bridge gate also fell victim to this onslaught. After the city was sacked, the city council ordered the gate to be walled up. On April 12, 1640, the Swedes came from the north and smashed the gate. Tennstedt was plundered again, after which the gate was walled up again in 1641. Numerous complaints from the local farmers, who now had no direct access to their fields, led to the reopening of the gate. After the winter cultivation of the fields was completed, the gate was bricked up again. On May 24th of the following year, by order of the council, the gate was opened permanently.
In 1643 a man-high wall was built on both sides of the gate entrance from the north, which could be closed with a gate. It is not clear what function this building served, as the wall was too low to defend the city. Around 1850 the bridge gate was demolished because of the new construction of the bridge road. Similar to the Langensalza Gate, two neo-Gothic gate pillars with battlements were erected in place of the gate. Likewise, the man-high walls to protect pedestrians were replaced by lower ones. The gate coat of arms was given a new place and was used in the area of the left pillar next to the passage gate. When the bridge over the Klunkerbach was rebuilt in the 1970s, the right pillar and the walls were removed.
The left pillar with a passage and a coat of arms stone has been preserved to this day. There is a so-called "notice board" on the city side of the tower. Until well into the 1980s, notices were posted on the bulletin board in which the city administration informed the population about important matters.
Translated by Google •
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