Staufenmauer
Staufenmauer stands along Fahrgasse in Frankfurt am Main, where a surviving section recalls the city’s medieval fortifications. Its round arches rise perpendicular to the present street layout, reaching six to eight metres high.
The wall began around 1180 under Hohenstaufen rule, enclosing the area now known as Frankfurt’s Altstadt. Quarry stone formed a structure about seven metres high and two to three metres thick, beside a dry ditch. A wooden sentry walk rested on relieving arches above the fortification. Three gates served the enclosed city: the Mains Gate, Bockenheim Gate and Bornheim Gate. Frankfurt’s expansion in 1333 brought permission for a new wall, leaving this older defence partly dismantled. Fire in 1711 led to extensive rebuilding, while bombing during the Second World War destroyed much of what remained.
Seventy-five metres of wall survive beside Fahrgasse, reinforced by blind arches and marked by former battlement supports.
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