The City Wall can be visited
Town FortificationDüren
City Wall Düren
The Düren city wall was the city fortification of the district town of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is partially still preserved.
Düren was first mentioned in the Frankish Imperial Annals in 747. However, when the first city fortification was built can no longer be determined. As a fortified place (imperial city), "oppidum nostrum Duren" is mentioned in 1226. In 1261, the first city gate, the Holztor, is mentioned. This suggests that the construction of the city wall had already begun earlier. An inscription on the old town hall, destroyed in World War II, indicates that the people of Düren began building the wall in 1224.
The medieval city wall is built of variegated sandstone ashlar. It is reinforced throughout its course between the city gates by flying buttresses. These arches were only added in the 14th century to give the wall greater stability when under bombardment. From 1493, the wall was also reinforced with protruding round bastion towers made of bricks, which allowed for better defense of the intermediate wall sections.
City Wall+
The course of the city wall and the locations of the city gates can be clearly seen from a drawing by Wenzel Hollar from 1634.
Between Wilhelmstraße and Philippstraße stood the Schellengassenturm, which has completely disappeared today. Between the Philippstor and the Holzturm stood the Münchenturm and the Pulverturm, which were also demolished. The Dicke Turm at the corner of Stürtzstraße/Altenteich on the grounds of the Stiftisches Gymnasium recently had to be renovated. Years ago, it had burst open because it had been filled with rubble that had become very heavy due to rainwater and had blown out the outer skin. Also on the school grounds, the Grönjansturm is still present today. In Stürtzstraße stands the Spießenturm, which has also been completely renovated. The Rentmeisterturm, which followed in the direction of Obertor, has disappeared. On the east side of the city wall stood the Herrenturm and the Jesuitenturm. The Pletzergassenturm on Pletzergasse is still present.
The city wall also included a rampart. In front of the city wall, a double ditch system was laid out. In February 2011, during the excavation of the foundation for the new shopping center on the post office site on Hohenzollernstraße, the approximately 5 m deep city moat was uncovered. The moat lay in front of the city wall. The remains of the moat are located directly next to the former Pletzerturm.
Today+
Large parts of the city wall survived the air raid of November 16, 1944. Today, parts of the city wall are obscured by existing residential buildings.
Individual preserved parts of the city fortification are listed in the monument list of the city of Düren, these are in detail:
Towers:
- Spießenturm or "Graue Mütze" with remains of the city wall
- Pletzergassenturm
- Dicker Turm
- Grönjansturm
- Rondell Schützenstraße
Remains of the city wall:
- City wall remnant August-Klotz-Straße/Wallstraße
- City wall remnant August-Klotz-Straße
- City wall remnant Schenkelstraße 6–8
- City wall remnant Oberstraße
- 84 m long and 3.5 m high fortification between Dickem Turm and Grönjansturm
- City wall remnant Hohenzollernstraße/Waisenhausstraße
Take Mobile History with you
You are reading this text for free. Premium adds what matters on the road: descriptions read aloud, sites found through your camera, whole regions taken offline.
- Every description, including the ~17,700 Premium sites
- Audio guide: have descriptions read to you on location
- AR finder: see sites through your camera, with distance and bearing
- Unlimited saved sites
14 days free, then from €2.99 a month. Cancel anytime.
Location: 50.7991, 6.4820