Vasmerkreuz

The Vasmer-Kreuz stands in Bremen’s Ostertor quarter, on a quiet side street near the old Paulskloster. A sandstone shaft-cross on a six-sided base, it was raised in 1435 as a memorial after the execution of Mayor Johann Vasmer. The city council placed it under protection in 1973 as part of the historic ensemble here. The cross remembers a disputed trial of 1430 when Vasmer was condemned for treason and beheaded outside the Ostertor. His son Heinrich secured imperial orders that forced the city to rehabilitate his father, pay compensation and keep the cross in place forever. The inscription in Gothic minuscules asks passers-by to pray for Vasmer’s soul. Visitors see a finely carved relief of the Crucifixion on the cross arms and a kneeling figure of the mayor with his coat of arms on the shaft. The base bears the original two-line inscription and, set into the paved surround, a later slab marking the 500th anniversary of the execution. The cross itself is a 1977 replica; the weathered original is preserved in the Focke-Museum.