Stendal - Tangermünder Tor

The fortified town of Stendal was founded by the first Brandenburg Margrave Albert the Bear and granted Magdeburg rights about 1160. A deed issued by Emperor Heinrich II in 1022, in which the village appears among the possessions of the Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim, is a 12th-century forgery.

Stendal quickly prospered as a center of commerce and trade. The parish of St. Jacobi was founded in the 12th century. The construction of a Franciscan monastery began in 1230. In the 13th century, the Stendal Seafarers' Guild was formed, which traded its own ships in the Baltic and North Sea areas. The oldest documented mention of the church of St. Marien dates back to 1283. Stendal received city walls around 1300 and in 1338 a Latin school was built. The local merchants joined the Hanseatic League in 1358 and purchased the privilege of minting from the Brandenburg margraves in 1369.

Just like in neighboring Tangermünde, the citizens of Stendal rebelled against the beer tax in 1488.
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In the Middle Ages, Stendal had a city wall with four city gates and several towers. One of the gates was the Tangermünder Tor. It was built as part of the Stendal fortifications in the 13th century. Only the tower of the main gate is still standing. On the right is the apse of St. Catherine's Church, which belonged to a nunnery founded in 1456 by Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg.