Nicolaiturm

The Nicolaiturm stands in Bautzen, a town in the Landkreis Bautzen, as a gate tower in the northern city wall. It sits beside the Nicolaifriedhof and the ruins of the Nicolaikirche. The tower takes its name from Saint Nicholas, whose popularity rose across Europe after his relics were moved to Bari in 1087. The tower’s origins are unclear, but records show its wooden upper section was replaced by a stone round tower in 1522. Lightning struck the tower in 1614, and after a fire in the Seven Years’ War the roof was rebuilt in 1775 with its present conical shape. The Nicolaitor was walled up until about 1800, when the blocked gate was reopened. Visitors see the only fully preserved medieval city gate in its original form. The pointed arch of the Nicolaitor remains intact, and above it on the city side is a sandstone coat of arms from the Middle Ages. The keystone on the city side is said to show the head of Peter Preischwitz, the town clerk executed in 1429 for trying to open the gates to the Hussites.