Mühltor, Bautzen

Mühltor, Sorbian, is a city gate in Bautzen.

This is the smallest of the medieval city gates and the only access to the city from the west side. It was built only after the Hussite sieges in 1429 and 1431, and was probably intended as a sally port for future defenses of the western section of the city wall. It was first called the "Donkey Gate" after the path that led from the Spree Valley up to the Wendish Churchyard. On this way flour and grain were transported on donkeys between the town and the mills in the Spree Valley. Since 1606 it has its present shape. The pointed arches of the mill gate are made of hand-painted bricks and rest on granite pillars.

The construction of the mill gate paid off at the latest in 1620 during the Thirty Years' War, when the city troops thus had access to the Ratsmühle, which was located on the Spree River. This enabled them to defend and hold it against the attacking Saxon troops.

Almost all transports from the west entered the city through the gate. At 9:30 p.m. it was closed by the gatekeeper. This profession was abolished only in 1835. In the past, the gatekeeper's room was located on the upper floor. Today these rooms are used for lectures and exhibitions.