Little Venice in Bad Kreuznach - a beautiful wallflower of historical architecture
The unsuspecting passerby is astonished to stop on the pedestrian bridge on the way from the Nahe to the Eiermarkt. The bridge crosses a small river: the Ellerbach. In the field of view lies the mouth of the Ellerbach into the Nahe. Here, the brook ends its journey after 27.2 km, which began at over 500 meters in the Soonwald. Looking upstream, one sees a building block that obstructs the view. Here, one finds oneself at a historically significant site of the city. The rows of houses, whose picturesque backsides - mostly beautifully renovated and colorfully designed - lie by the brook, stand on both sides of the old city wall. The eastern side was the wall of the castle district, which stretched from the Kauzenburg to the Ellerbach mouth. A small tower - later topped with a baroque dome - “the Peffermiehl” - still marks the point where the long walls of the castle peace met. On the western side lay the city wall, which enclosed the citizens of craftsmen, traders, and farmers. Thus, both districts benefited from the Ellerbach, which for a long time served primarily as a sewage canal, especially for the tanners. If the citizens wanted to enter the castle district, they had to go through the gate. It was forbidden to build on the city wall, which was constructed around 1300. The fact that it was done anyway, and demolition orders were ignored, was due to the fact that these inner-city walls were no longer needed for protection and the city suffered from a lack of space due to population growth around 1500. Therefore, the bridge was also built, on which the aforementioned building block stands. Those who stroll through the pedestrian zone hardly notice that they are crossing a bridge over the Ellerbach, flanked on both sides by half-timbered buildings. Thanks to urban renewal, the district presents itself today as a charming wallflower. The evening atmosphere is particularly beautiful when open-air cinema or theater performances take place in the riverbed. From the location on the bridge, one can also see the remains of the old Fisher Gate. From there, the fishermen went to their boats in the “Ellerbach harbor.” The trade died out about 50 years ago.
