Meninska brana / The Menin Gate Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 12/21/2006
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Meninska brana / The Menin Gate

Park

[CZ]

Brnenske hradby jsou heuristicky dolozeny od roku 1243–1247 a jejich vznik lze datovat do první tretiny 13. stoleti. O mestskych hradbach a prikopech hovori Velke mestske privilegium Brna krale Vaclava I. z ledna roku 1243 a jsou take zminovany kolem roku 1260 v listinach Premysla Otakara II.

Do vlastniho vnitrniho prostoru mesta vedlo od 13. stoleti pet bran – Behounska, Vesela, Brnenska, Zidovska a Meninska. Brany byly doplneny vychody pro pesi, oznacovanych jako branky (portulae). Az do poloviny 18. století byly vstupy do mesta mozne pouze branami Brnenskou, (v mistech dnesniho Silingrova namesti na konci ulice Starobrnenske), Veselou (soubeh ulic Vesela a Ceska) a Zidovskou (Masarykova ulice a její soubeh s Frantiskanskou). Tyto vstupy do mesta byly lokalizovany ve vnejsim pevnostnim pasu a vedly k nim silnice. Dalsi brany slouzily pouze k vnitrni potrebe obyvatel mesta.

Brana, jejiz nazev je odvozen od mestske ctvrti, stala pri usti Meninske ulice (dnesni Orli). Uvadena v poctu mestskych bran jako pata je jedinym uzivanym vychodem z mesta zachovanym az do dnesni doby. Je zvlastni tim, ze k ni vede pouze jedina ulice, coz nekteri historici povazuji za dukaz urciteho vyboceni z dispozice mestskeho planu a domnivaji se, ze k ni puvodne vedly dve sbihave ulice, z nichz jedna byla v pozdejsi dobe zastavena. I tato teorie ma vsak svoje odpurce.

Meninska brana jako jedina brana stredovekeho mestskeho opevneni zmenila svoji polohu. K roku 1293 je dolozena na spojnici dnesnich ulic Koblizne a Janske, ale k roku 1348 je v techto mistech pripominana pouze mestska Branka, zatimco nova Meninska brana stoji o ulici jizneji.

Architektonicka podoba dnesni brany vznikla kolem roku 1500. Brana byla puvodne ctyrpatrova, i kdyz nektere prameny ji uvadeji jako tripatrovou. Sveho vyznamu a ucelu pozbyla jiz v polovine 17. stoleti, ponevadz byl pred ni v ramci vystavby barokni pevnosti vybudovan mohutny bastion. Roku 1839 byla snizena, zbavena veskereho dekoru a prestavena na obytny dum. V letech 1847–1849 prestala brana slouzit jako pruchozi. V polovine 19. stoleti koupila Meninskou branu, jez se nachazela ve velmi spatnem stavu, jista brnenska obchodnice a vyuzila jeji sklepni prostory pro dozravani olomouckych tvaruzku, ktere do Brna vozila. Finance takto ziskane pouzila na opravu brany, kde zily postupne ctyri generace jeji rodiny. V roce 1945 byla brana silne poskozena delostreleckymi zasahy.

Posledni majitelka z rodiny Navratilovych, kteri branu obyvali temer jedno stoleti, ji predala na konci 60. let 20. stoleti mestu Brnu. Znovu prodana, tentokrat mestem, zustala brana nevyuzita a chatrala az do doby, kdy se (v roce 1978) vratila znovu do majetku mesta Brna.

Po obdobi upadku byla Meninska brana v letech 1978–1982 zrekonstruovana mestem Brnem podle projektu Ing. arch. Kamila Fuchse. V unoru 1982 presla do spravy Muzea mesta Brna a stala se soucasti jeho expozicnich a vystavnich prostor.


[EN]

Brno’s city walls have been continuously documented in detail since the period between 1243–1247. Their origins can be dated to the first third of the thirteenth century. The city’s ramparts and moats are mentioned in the Great City Privilege of Brno, issued by King Wenceslas I in January 1243; they are also mentioned around 1260 in the charters of Premysl Otakar II.

Beginning in the thirteenth century, the inner city has been accessed through five gates – the Behounska, Vesela, Brno (Brnenska), Jewish (Zidovska) and Menin (Meninska) gates. The gates had also exits for pedestrians, designated as doors (portulae). Until the middle of the eighteenth century, entry into the city was possible only through the Brno (on today’s Silingr Square (Silingrovo namesti) at the end of Starobrnenska Street), Vesela (at the junction of Vesela and Ceska Streets) and Jewish, later Ferdinand (on Masarykova Street) gates. These entrances to the city were located in the outer fortifications belt and there were roads leading to them. The other gates were only intended for internal use by city inhabitants.

The Menin Gate was named after the surrounding city quarter and was located at the mouth of Meninska (today Orli) Street. Mentioned as the fifth of the city’s gates, it is the only exit from the city that has been preserved and remains in use today. It is quite exceptional that only one street leads to it – some historians tend to consider this as evidence a certain deviation from the city plan and believe that there were originally two convergent streets meeting at the gate, one of which was later built over. But also this theory also has its opponents.

The Menin Gate is the only one in the medieval system of city fortifications to have changed its position. As of the year 1293, it is recorded as having been on a line connecting line Koblizna and Janska Streets; in 1348, however, there is only a city door mentioned at that location, while the new Menin Gate is located one street further to the south.

The architecture of the present gate dates to around the year 1500. The gate originally had four storeys although some sources mention it as a three-storey building. By the mid-seventeenth century it had lost its importance and purpose as a massive bastion had been built in front of it during Baroque fortress construction. In 1839, the Gate was lowered, all its ornamentation was removed and it was turned into a residential structure. The Gate lost its function as a passage in 1847–1849. By the mid-nineteenth century it was in very poor condition; it was purchased by a lady merchant from Brno who used its cellars for the maturation of “tvaruzky” – a strong-smelling cheese from the Olomouc region – that she herself imported to Brno. She then used the money obtained from her business to repair the gate, which then served as home for four generations of her family. In 1945, it was badly damaged by artillery.

The last owner of the Navrátil family, who had lived in the gate for almost a century, donated it to the city of Brno in the late 1960s. The city re-sold it, but it remained unused and decaying until it was returned to the property of the city of Brno (in 1978).

Following this period of decline, the city of Brno provided funds for the renovation of the Menin Gate (1978–1982) according to plans by the architect Kamil Fuchs. In February 1982, it came under the administration of the Brno City Museum and became a part of its exhibition space.

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