City Wall with Gate Towers

The preserved remnants of the city fortifications are among the most important examples of medieval buildings in Brandenburg an der Havel. The stone walls and ditches were created in the 14th and 15th Centuries and surrounded the old and the new town. Once there were five city gates and multiple gate towers. With the growing traffic, the city gates were subsequently proven to be a hindrance and demolished in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. This included large sections of the city walls. Gaps have been partially closed with buildings.

The 28.5m high stone gate tower in the new town is with its conical crown and mounted battlements the largest and most powerful of the Brandenburg gate towers. The diameter is 11m and the lower wall thickness 3.5m, demonstrating the defensive nature of the tower. The stairs inside the four-storey tower are set into the walls. The tower was built at the beginning of the 15th Century, and first mentioned in 1433 AD. Today the premises of the tower serve as a branch of the City Museum (permanent exhibition on the history of the Havel waterways).

The exact year of construction of the tower is not known. Its construction is presumed to be in the 15th Century. The Plaue gate tower stood for many years as a 17m high round butt. The upper timber floor with conical roof was not preserved. The tower received its present appearance with battlements and conical helmet in 1928/29 to mark the millennium celebrations.

The Rathenow gate tower appeared at the end of the 14th Century as protection in the north of the old town. Around 200 years later the 28m high building with its sharp conical roof was significantly altered. The not originally existing tower passage was created during restoration works in 1910/11. Access to the lower floor of the tower was only possible by the walkway across the floor of the first floor. Even today the city wall at the Walther-Rathenau-Platz stretches to the Rathenow gate tower.

A plaque at the mill gate tower reveals its year of construction as 1411 AD. Nicholas Kraft of Stettin is named as the builder. The 24m high, four-storey building, distinguished by its octagonal shape and the church window like apertures is strikingly different from the gate towers. As with almost all other gate towers, the lower part of the tower served as a prison. The trade route to Berlin led through the adjacent mill gate until 1804.