Fischertor

The Fischertor stands in the northwest of Augsburg's old town, a gate on the city's edge since the early fourteenth century. In the Middle Ages a ring wall circled the city, and this gate was one way in. Just outside lay the Fischervorstadt, a suburb of fishermen along the Senkelbach stream, families of the lower social classes.

The first written mention dates to 1328, when a small entrance called the Thorlein stood here. In 1453 a wooden bridge crossed the moat, making the way in and out easier. The main traffic and trade went through the Wertachbrucker Tor instead, so this stayed a side entrance. In 1609 Elias Holl, the city architect, added two storeys that raised the gate and gave it more presence. The War of the Spanish Succession then destroyed it almost completely in 1703. Local farmers who needed the crossing for their daily rounds pressed for rebuilding, which began about six years later. Traffic kept thinning all the same, and by 1770 the gate stood closed.

The way from Frauentorstraße to the gate ran for a long time through the Fischergässchen, a narrow little alley. In 1908 widening turned it into a proper street called Am Fischertor. The closed gate itself came down in 1924, and Otto Holzer, the city building director, raised the structure you see today. It has a wide entrance with two arches on either side. Stand there and you occupy a crossing point people have used for almost seven hundred years.