Sigmundstor
 Eastern entrance and view through the Sigmundstor, facing west | |
| Operation | |
|---|---|
| Work begun | 1764 |
| Technical | |
| Length | 131 metres (430 ft) |
The Sigmundstor, generally known as the Neutor, is a road tunnel in Salzburg that also forms one of the city gates of the historic Altstadt. It connects the Altstadt with the Riedenburg quarter through the Mönchsberg mountain. Built in the 18th century, it is the oldest road tunnel in Austria.[citation needed]
The tunnel is is 131 metres (430 ft) long,[1] 5.5 metres (18 ft) wide and 7 metres (23 ft) high.[citation needed] The tunnel is dug at an 8% incline, which helps natural light illuminate it.[2]
History
Earlier projects
In 1675 the court commissioner of buildings Michael Springrueber approached Hofkriegsrat Guidobald Franz Freiherr von Hegi with a proposal to improve the fortifications protecting the central areas of Salzburg city, cutting the Mönchsberg ridge in two, and connecting the parts with a drawbridge. This would prevent any enemy that had succeeded in taking the Monika and Augustiner forts from making its way along the Mönchsberg right up to the outer works of the castle and from bombarding the old town from the heights.[citation needed]
In 1676 Hegi made the same proposal to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Max Gandolph von Küenburg and set out to see whether the Mönchsberg could indeed be cut at its narrowest point. In this proposal he mentioned for the first time the utility of the project for allowing the expansion of the city. The valley lowlands of Riedenburg could be made accessible by means of the cut and could allow room for settlers from the old town; the new district would also be militarily easy to secure.[citation needed]
From 1676 until Max Galdolf's death in 1687 excavations proceeded and a 35m wide cut was made in the mountain from its eastern side before work was abandoned as uneconomical. Traces of this work can still be seen today near the concert hall and in the lookout terrace cut into the rock above the Sigmundstor.[citation needed]
Tunnel construction
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In 1759, during the rule of Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach, the plan to make a cutting through the Mönchsberg was reconsidered. After concerns about its feasibility, it was decided instead to build a tunnel using the existing cutting as its eastern terminus. The project began in 1764, with the tunnel construction under direction of the commissioner of buildings Elias Edler von Geyer, whilst the architect Wolfgang Hagenauer was responsible for the design of the portals at each end of the tunnel, and his brother Johann Baptist Hagenauer for the sculptures on the portals.[3]
Digging started on both sides of the mountain and on 2 September 1765 the dividing rock between the two excavations was broken. The work cost 19,820 Gulden, including 11,538 Gulden on the gateways alone. The excavation of the tunnel produced around 4,500 cubic metres (160,000 cu ft) of waste stone which was used for roadbuilding.[citation needed]
Subsequent history
In 1916 a tramline was constructed through the tunnel. In 1940 this was replaced by a route of the Salzburg trolleybus system. The tunnel underwent major restoration works in 1985/6 and 2009. In 1968/9 a parallel tunnel, for use by pedestrians and cyclists, was built to the north of the original tunnel.[3][4]
Before city council and mayoral elections in 2019, the SPÖ, NEOS and the Grüne proposed to ban private cars from the Sigmundstor. However after losing the first round of voting the SPÖ distanced itself from this proposal.[5]
Decorative features
The eastern entrance
At the tunnel entrance on the old town side an inscription was carved over a bas-relief of the Prince-Archbishop with the words Te saxa loquuntur ('The stones will speak of you'). Originally the structure of the baroque horsepond with its frescoes extended in front of the current eastern gate, giving the square a symmetrical form. A decorative gate within that structure led under cover to the present gate at the head of the tunnel. Thus structure was demolished around 1860.[3]
The western entrance
The western entrance on the Riedenburg side has a statue of the martyr Sigismund of Burgundy (†524) above war trophies and the Schrattenbach crest.
The inscription there reads: 'D(eo) O(ptimo) M(aximo) - D(ivino) Sigismundo M(artyri) publico bono, commodo decori. SIgIsMVnDI ArChIepIsCopI SaLzVrgensIs P(rincepis) S(acri) R(omani imperii) comitib(us) de Schrattenbach aeternae memoriae W(olfgangus) Hagenauer archit(ectus)'. The capital letters in the inscription, added together, come to 1767.
The plinth of the statue carries the inscription Joan(nnae) Hagenauer inv(enit) exc(ussit) et eff(ecit) ('Johann (Baptist) Hagenauer discovered, hewed it out and completed (this statue)').
Proposed defensive ruin
The original plan included the construction of a military outer structure on the Riedenburg side, disguised as a park of 'ruins', then fashionable. However nothing more than a pair of obelisks, to the right and left of the portal, was ever completed.[3][6]
The former Zwinger in front of the west gate
Until around 1860 the Sigmundstor was defended on its western side by a fortified defensive Zwinger, including a defensive wall, guardhouse and tollbooth, surrounded in three sides by a moat with drawbridges. The tunnel itself could be defended with a palisade in the event of attack.[citation needed]
Contemporary significance
Today the Sigmundstor with two narrow lanes of traffic is an important transport route, often full of vehicles during the Salzburg Festival when the city is busy. To the north of the main tunnel is a small parallel tunnel for pedestrians and cyclists, built in 1968/9.[4] From this an access tunnel extends to the northern old town garage under the Mönchsberg. On the southern side a similar tunnel extends to the southern garage and to the concert hall itself.
The original name of the tunnel was never popular among the townspeople. Only in 1990 was the designation Sigmundstor more widely adopted, when the square on the old town side, Sigmundsplatz, (named after Sigismundus Christoph von Schrattenbach) was renamed in honour of the recently deceased conductor Herbert von Karajan. More commonly however the people of Salzburg refer to it as the Neutor (New Gate) and indeed the street that leads to it is known as the Neutorstraße.
Bibliography
- Adolf Hahnl: Das Neutor (Schriftenreihe des Stadtvereins Salzburg. Kulturgut der Heimat. Book 6, ZDB-ID 842494-9). Stadtvereins Salzburg, Salzburg 1977.
- Clemens M. Hutter: Das Neutor ist mehr als ein „Loch im Berg“. Bastei – Magazin des Salzburger Stadtvereins, 2018, vol. 67 pages 34–35.
- Reinhard Medicus: Die alten Wehrbauten der Stadtberge. In: Christian F. Uhlir (ed.): Salzburger Stadtberge. Mönchsberg, Kapuzinerberg, Festungsberg, Nonnberg und Rainberg. edition winterwork, Borsdorf 2011, ISBN 978-3-86468-033-5, pages 138–157
References
- ^ "Sigmundstor". structurae.net. Structurae.net. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ Bittmann, Julius (5 June 2010). "Ein Meisterwerk der Kunst und der Technik" [A masterpiece of art and technology] (in German). Traunsteiner Tagblatt. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Te saxa loquuntur – Von Dir sprechen die Steine: Das Salzburger Neutor" [The stones speak of you: The Salzburg Neutor]. bda.gv.at (in German). Bundesdenkmalamt. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Siegmundstor / Neutor". kulturerleben.salzburgresearch.at (in German). Discovering Salzburg's Cultural Heritage. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ "SPÖ rudert zurück: "Keine Neutor-Sperre"" [No majority for Neutor ban] (in German). ORF Salzburg. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Projektliste Ungebautes Salzburg" [Unbuilt Project List Salzburg]. initiativearchitektur.at (in German). Museum der Moderne, Salzburg. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.