Schwabentor - Blog Posts
Freiburg's Schwabentor
The Germany city of Freiburg im Breisgau, on the transition between the Rhine valley plains and the hills of the Black Forest, was part of the Duchy of Swabia until it dissolved in the 13th century due to the ducal line going extinct. It was around this time that its "Swabian Gate" was built at the Eastern edge of the town, facing the Swabian heartland.
Like Schaffhausen's Schwabentor, it has undergone upgrades and downgrades, taken damage and been restored over time. The current illustrations on the tower include St George slaying the dragon (1903) on the outside, and a merchant with a cart (first painted in 1572) on the inside, just visible in the picture below.
Freiburg's Altstadt has many gorgeous, colourful houses decorated with trompe-l'oeil facades. An effort has also been made to preserve the little rivers in the streets, known as Bächle. Local superstition says that anyone who accidentally steps in a Bächle will marry a local - unusual to see a place that values clumsiness!
Schaffhausen's Schwabentor
Schaffhausen has a great preserved historical centre. One of the entries to this would have been the Schwabentor, the Gate of Swabia, and indeed, it faces North, towards the southwestern area of Germany. Built in 1361, it burned down in 1932, and a couple of curious features were added to it during restoration.
As I took photos, a local woman in a car stopped at the red light and told me to "keep my eyes open". What? "Lappi tue d'Augen uf, that's what it says on the tower". I noticed it just after crossing back over.
When the tower was restored in the 1930s ("Renoviert 1933" is just visible above the relief), a road junction had appeared before it, and this sign was added to warn people walking around near the Schwabentor.
Another addition are the clocks, each surrounded by a painting which are clearly 20th-century works. Carl Roesch's tableaux are called Kosmos on the South side, Kreislauf ("Cycle") on the North side, and they depict our lives in the vastness of space, and subject to the inexorable march of time, and Death can be seen at the top of the clock above: modern style it may be, but the symbols are classics.