Isartor: The Gate of Salt
Why is it significant?
Ahead of you stands the Isartor: a broad gate with a tall central tower, two round side towers, and a long painted frieze running across its front, full of knights, horses and banners in a triumphal procession. To understand Munich, you have to understand salt.
Key Facts
| Place | Isartor: The Gate of Salt |
|---|---|
| Address | Tal 50, 80331 München, Germany |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.13510, 11.58200 |
| Part of Walk | Salt, Beer and Pretzels: A Food Lover's Walk Through Munich's Old Town |
| Generated | Generated |
Ahead of you stands the Isartor: a broad gate with a tall central tower, two round side towers, and a long painted frieze running across its front, full of knights, horses and banners in a triumphal procession.
To understand Munich, you have to understand salt. In the twelfth century, salt from the mines around Reichenhall travelled west on carts towards Augsburg, and whoever controlled the river crossing collected the tolls. The crossing belonged to the bishop of Freising, at Föhring, a little downstream. In 1158 Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, destroyed that bridge and built his own crossing here, by a settlement of monks. The emperor Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the new market in an arbitration at Augsburg that June, and that document is Munich's birth certificate.
So this city was literally founded on a stolen salt route. The gate came later, in the fourteenth century, as part of the second city wall. The fresco on its front was painted in the 1830s and shows the emperor Ludwig the Bavarian returning in triumph after his victory of 1322. Every salt cart that came to Munich passed under an arch on this spot and rolled up the street behind you, the Tal, towards the market.
Today the towers hold something completely different: the Valentin-Karlstadt-Musäum, dedicated to Karl Valentin and his stage partner Liesl Karlstadt. Yes, Musäum, deliberately misspelled, which tells you everything about its sense of humour. You met Valentin in bronze at the market a few minutes ago. Here you can meet his mind.
Stand still for a moment and imagine the traffic of seven hundred years ago: oxen, carters, toll collectors, the smell of horses and pitch. Salt preserved meat, it made sausage possible, it paid for walls and churches. Now follow the salt carts' route back up the Tal, the broad street leading west, and look out on the right for a house where wheat beer was once a royal secret.