Basel – St Johanns Tor

St Johanns Tor (St. John’s Gate) is one of three remaining gates into Basel, once attached to the city walls although they were nearly entirely pulled down in 1859. Back in the late fourteenth century, matters were quite different as there were seven major gates, forty towers and a heap of battlements to keep the riff raff out. It’s located relatively near to the River Rhine and it’s something of a medieval survivor. As some background, 18 October 1356 was quite a bad day for Basel as it was hit by one of the worst earthquakes to have taken place in central Europe. It’s not a surprise that chunks of the city promptly fell down. That did though give the city authorities a chance to rebuild and expand their defences.

It’s a chunky door and is some centuries old. There was once a portcullis arrangement here, but they replaced it with a system where vertical oak beams could be lifted individually.

After it was decided not to demolish the gate, it was restored in 1874 and then again between 1983 and 1985. During the 1980s renovation, it was decided to reverse the new roof added in 1874 and return to something more as the building would have looked like in the medieval period. There are some sculptures on the exterior of the building, but they’re replicas from the early twentieth century and the originals are in the Historical Museum of Basel.

Looking towards France. The rooms in the gate are now used by Basel’s cantonal police force (Kantonspolizei Basel-Stadt) so it continues a tradition of civil function, although it means that the structure isn’t open to the public.

There are some steps to get to the level above and it’s possible to walk down to the Rhine from here.