Wassertor

The Wassertor stands in Wismar’s old town, beside the canal that once linked the harbour to the medieval street called Spiegelberg. It is the last surviving gate of five that once pierced the city’s brick-built defences. All the others were land gates, but this was the only one that let ships sail straight from the harbour into the town. Built in 1450 at the close of the Gothic age, the gate has a tall pointed arch and a square tower capped by a simple pitched roof. On the town side the parapet is stepped into six narrow blind arches, while the harbour side was reshaped in 1600 to a triangular gable. Above the arch on both faces run white bands, and each side bears two coats of arms carved in stone. Visitors pass through the vaulted passage where a plaque recalls Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s 1922 film Nosferatu, many scenes of which were shot around Wismar. The gate now houses the Club maritim, and beyond it the canal still carries small boats past the last remnants of the old wall.