Hey guys,
since I spent a lot of time in Rostock in the last year, I would like to show you something more about this great city today.
Today it is mainly about one sight in Rostock - the "Steintor", Stone Gate.
The Steintor is located in Rostock's city centre, a five-minute walk from St. Mary's Church and Rostock City Hall.
The Stone Gate, the main entrance to the city in the Middle Ages
The Stone Gate, as it stands there today, was built from 1574 to 1577 in the Renaissance architectural style. It is a gate in the south of the historical Rostock city fortification. It is not the only gate in Rostock: along with the Kröpelin Gate, the Petri Gate and the Mill Gate, it was one of the four main gates of the city and thus part of the 22 gates belonging to the former ring of walls. About the Kröperliner gate I will make still further posts, stay curious ;). However, the Stone Gate did not always look like today, no, it was even once a completely different gate.
The actual stone gate was built in 1270 in gothic style. It was probably as big as the Kröpelin Gate.
The Stone Gate was very important for the city of Rostock at that time: it was the sally port to the south. In the Middle Ages, the gate served as the main entrance to the city. The upper class, the princes, used the gate to get to the town hall and St. Mary's Church (which I will tell you more about in a moment). In doing so, they used the Stone Street, which led from the Stone Gate to St. Mary's Church. This was paved especially for them.
In 1566, the so called "first version" of the stone gate and parts of the city wall were destroyed. Duke Johann Albrecht I ordered this because Rostock refused the formal oath of homage.
The present Stone Gate was then built from 1575 to 1577. Instead of the Gothic style, it features a Dutch Renaissance style.
During the Second World War, the stone gate was again heavily destroyed, so that it had to be restored again, but its shape was largely preserved.
Wealth on the city side, strength on the field side
The field side and the city side of the gate could not be more different: First to the city side, the "beautiful side", which you can also see on the cover picture.
On the city side you can see lions bearing three coats of arms. These are coats of arms of the city of Rostock. On the coats of arms you will find a griffin (secret seal), the bull's head (Great City Seal) and the three-colored shield with the griffin in the upper field (the Hanseatic city coat of arms).
Below it is the inscription: "Sit intra te concordia et publica felicitas" ("Within your walls reign concord and general welfare"). This is the motto of Rostock.
In contrast to this, the field side of the stone gate was deliberately kept simple. Only in a small rectangle the city and state coat of arms can be found. What is very noticeable on this side are the stones for the portcullis and the embrasures. But why was this side kept so plain? This was to demonstrate strength and fortitude. How well the city was doing, i.e. its wealth, was to be shown on the city side.
Until 1849, there was even a Zwinger, a wide round tower, on the field side of the gate. At that time, the gate was also directly connected to the city wall. Today, this missing connection is commemorated by twelve stelae on the east side, which glow green at night.
I hope you enjoyed the post about the Stone Gate, feel free to leave me your feedback in the comments and give me a vote. See you next time!!
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