Town Fortification Nördlingen-Baldinger Gate

The Nördlingen city wall is the only city wall in Germany that has a completely preserved, all-round accessible and covered battlement. It encloses the entire medieval old town of Nördlingen and has a length of 2.6 kilometers. The city wall includes five gates with gate towers, eleven other towers and a bastion.

Construction of the city wall began in 1327 on the orders of Louis the Bavarian. It replaced the old defensive rampart, the course of which can still be seen today in the course of the old town streets Drehergasse, Bei den Kornschrannen, Vordere Gerbergasse, Herrengasse and Neubaugasse. Between 1536 and 1613, four gates and two towers were rebuilt from scratch. In addition, seven oven towers, three strong bulwarks and two bastions were built during this period. During the Thirty Years' War in 1634, the Nördlingen city fortifications withstood a siege by imperial troops in the run-up to the Battle of Nördlingen. From 1803, the Nördlingers began to dismantle parts of the now superfluous city wall. In 1826, King Ludwig I of Bavaria placed the wall under his protection and forbade its further demolition.

Baldinger Tor

The road towards Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main leads through the Baldinger Tor. It was first mentioned in 1376. In 1406, Master Wenzel Parler completed the gatehouse, and in 1430, the gate was rebuilt under the direction of the stonemason Conrad Stenglin. The gate group probably originally resembled the Berger Tor. During the siege of 1634, the gate tower was damaged. As a late consequence, it collapsed on August 20, 1703. Next to the gate passage is a small entrance gate. Through this, people in the Middle Ages entered the city in the evening when the gate was already closed.