Tangermünder Tor, Medieval city gate in Stendal, Germany.
Tangermünder Tor is a city gate in Stendal whose Romanesque fieldstone base with a round-arch passage survives as the foundation of a late Gothic brick tower built around 1440. The tower has a crenellated platform, a round turret and four corner turrets. A brick annex added from 1987 gives access to the tower.
Stendal's medieval wall had four gates; this one guarded the road over the Uchte toward Tangermünde. Its fieldstone base with a round-arched passage dates from the early 13th century, when the village of Schadewachten was merged into the city. The brick upper storey with crenellated platform, round turret and four corner pinnacles was added around 1440. The gate remained in use until before the plague of 1682; demolition of the fortifications began in 1718.
The gate displays local building methods using fieldstone and Gothic brick techniques common in medieval Saxony-Anhalt. These craftsmanship traditions remain visible in the different layers of the structure.
The gate sits at the southeastern edge of the old town and is easily accessible on foot from the city center. The 1987 brick addition improved its structural stability and makes it safer to explore the interior areas.
In mid-April 1945, white surrender flags were raised on the Tangermünder Tor, on the church towers and from the town's houses, then pulled down again several times. The SS demanded their removal under threat of terror measures. The tower was last extensively restored in the second half of the 1980s and opened to the public.
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