Karlstor
Coordinates: 48°08′20″N 11°34′00″E / 48.13901°N 11.56677°E The Karlstor at Stachus in Munich is one of four main gates of the medieval city wall. It served as a fortification for the defence and is the westernmost of Munich's three remaining gothic town gates (Isartor, Sendlinger Tor and Karlstor).
Architecture
The Karlstor stands at the western end of the Neuhauser Straße, which was part of the salt road and the east-west thoroughfare of the historic old town. Thus, it divides the historic center of Ludwigvorstadt. Before Karlstor is the Karlsplatz (Stachus), now part of the circle Altstadtring and one of the busiest points of Munich.
Between 1285 and 1347 a second fortification was built for Munich, under which the gate, then still Neuhauser Tor, was created. For the first time the Karlstor was mentioned in documents in 1302. The Karlstor over time was extended and fastened. When the shopping center Stachus-Einkaufszentrums was constructed in 1970, an escape tunnel with brick masonry was found, with the soldiers, even if civilians behind enemy lines to escape or enter. A short piece is on display at Stachus-Einkaufszentrums.
Count Rumford, then commander of the Bavarian army under Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, ordered to alter the edge towers in 1791. That same year, the gate was renamed in Neuhauser Karlstor, named after the Elector.
In 1857 the gunpowder stocks that were stored in the annex of the main tower exploded, and damaged them so much that it later had to be demolished. The two flanking towers were redesigned and later connected with a new bridge (Gothic Revival). In 1861/62 Arnold Zenetti redesigned the Karlstor the Neo-Gothic style. It was later integrated in the rondell buildings on both sides next to the gate (constructed by Gabriel von Seidl 1899-1902).
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