Stendal Town Fortifications

Stendal’s town fortifications go back to a first rampart-and-ditch circuit recorded in 1207. The market settlement had been founded in the second half of the twelfth century under a privilege of Albert the Bear. The extended stone wall ring of the late thirteenth century enclosed the old village, the market settlement, the margravial court and the settlement of Schadewachten and originally had four gates. Stendal developed into an important Hanseatic town of the Mark Brandenburg with long-distance trade as far as England. Around 1450 the gate towers received a representative rebuilding that matched the town’s wealth. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the no-longer-needed defences were demolished: in 1783/84 the Arneburger Tor, in 1832 the Viehtor; in 1837 the ramparts were converted into a promenade.

What remains are the Tangermünder Tor (base from the early thirteenth century with a Romanesque round-arched portal, representative brick superstructure with battlemented platform and corner turrets around 1440), the Uenglinger Tor (base around 1300, late-Gothic brick superstructure with battlemented crowns, corner turrets and ornamentation around 1450/60, often attributed to Steffen Boxthude; regarded as one of the finest town gates of North German brick Gothic) and the round Pulverturm (around 1450, the last surviving defence tower). Remains of the ramparts and short stretches of wall are still visible. Both gate towers (height about 28 m) can be climbed and serve as viewing towers.