Breisach's Gate, 17th-century city gate in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Breisach's Gate is a 17th-century city gate in Freiburg im Breisgau, located at the intersection of Rempartstraße and Gartenstraße. It features a triangular gable and a central vertical accent on its third story, with a restaurant occupying the ground floor and university seminar spaces housed in the upper levels.
Built from 1677 as part of Vauban's baroque fortifications for Freiburg, the gate was originally called Porte Saint-Martin, like its Paris counterpart, both built for Louis XIV. When French troops slighted the fortifications on their withdrawal in 1745, it remained the only one of four gates. It later took the name Breisacher Tor because traffic on the southern road to Breisach and Basel passed through it.
The name Breisacher Tor comes from the southern road toward Breisach and Basel that once passed through it; under Louis XIV it was called Porte Saint-Martin, like its counterpart in Paris. In 1770 Marie Antoinette entered Freiburg through this gate on her bridal journey to the French court. Today the ground-floor restaurant seats guests on the former gateway approach behind the building.
The square at the gate provides space to walk through and linger, and is easily accessible on foot from the city center. A restaurant on the ground floor offers seating options, and the surrounding streets connect to regular pedestrian routes through the old town.
The gate's original name, Porte Saint-Martin, was shared with the gate of the same name in Paris, as both were built under Louis XIV. The east wing was demolished in 1903 when Gartenstraße was redesigned, and its ground plan is still marked in the paving today.
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