Isabella Mueller Baroness of Stainton le Vale
There are still three preserved medieval city gates in Munich, and one of them is the Sendlinger Tor. This southern city gate is located in the Hackenviertel district and separates the old town from the Isarstadt district. The gate was commissioned by Ludwig of Bavaria and built between 1285 and 1337 as part of the second city fortifications. The two flanking towers were added to the gate in 1420. A restoration was carried out in 1860 by Munich architect Arnold Zenetti. In 1906, the Sendlinger Tor was rebuilt for traffic reasons, and architect Wilhelm Bertsch replaced the original gate entrances with a central arch. A general renovation took place in the 1980s. This historic gate, which marks the beginning of the Sendlinger Straße shopping mile leading to Marienplatz, is steeped in the legend of the rich patrician who was walled in. Once upon a time, a rich patrician lived in Munich. He was bribed with a large sum of money by a band of robbers to steal the key to the Sendlinger Tor and hand it over to them so that they could enter the city and rob the citizens. In the past, the city gates were locked to protect against looting. However, the diabolical plan was foiled in time and the patrician was arrested and convicted. He was walled up alive in the Fausttürmchen (Fist Tower) by the Munich executioner, who lived in the last building within the city walls at the Sendlinger Tor until 1843. The tower owes its name to a stone on its top that looked like a fist. Whenever the executioner had executed an innocent person between midnight and 1 a.m., this stone would glow. To this day, it is said that you can hear the lamentations of the walled-in patrician in the south tower at Sendlinger Tor if you listen very closely to the walls. During my visit to Sendlinger Tor, I didn’t hear any moaning, but maybe it was just too loud. After all, Sendlinger Tor is an important local transport hub.
