Town Fortification Görlitz - Hotherbastei

The Hotherbastei is located on the Nikolaizwinger below the Vogtshof at the northeastern corner of the Görlitz city wall. It is dated to the second half of the 13th century and represents the last preserved corner bastion of the city. The adjacent Nikolaizwinger was redesigned into a garden by landscape architect Henry Kraft in 1953/54. The two-story tower rises above a three-quarter round floor plan, its masonry in the lower and in the transition to the upper floor is broken by individual loopholes. The upper floor has several large cannon hatches. Below the Zwinger stretched the Nikolaivorstadt, which lay outside the protective city wall and was itself only inadequately secured. The Zwinger and Hotherbastei therefore offered additional protection.