Breitgasse

This street's spacious layout was determined by its function as one of the main traffic arteries leading to the harbor. Together with the street known as the Dämme, which crossed it at right angles, it formed the framework from which the originally swampy quarter between them was developed. This quarter constituted the oldest "nova civitas" (New City) of the Rechtstadt (Main Town), already referred to as such in 1357.

The Breitgasse is first mentioned in the inheritance register in 1354 as "ampla platea" (Latin for "broad street"), on the occasion of a mortgage transaction. In the inheritance registers the name consistently remained "brede gasse" thereafter.

The gate closing off the street behind Laternengasse and Mauergang is first recorded in 1363 as "superior valva" (upper gate). It was a double gate consisting of an outer and inner gate, later regularly called "bredes doer" (Broad Gate). Its outer section facing the Holzmarkt was demolished in 1826, and the inner section in 1831.

The stretch of street between the gate and the Holzmarkt was occupied until the early 17th century by the double moat of the Rechtstadt. Only after its removal between 1614 and 1630 was the area gradually built up. In the inheritance register these properties are designated "extra portam" (outside the gate), and by the late 18th century also "im und am Breiten Tor" (in and at the Broad Gate).

The Krantor (Crane Gate) must also have existed by 1363, as the designation "superior valva" for the Broad Gate implies. By 1366 it was already referred to as "Kran" (crane). However, in its present form it was only erected in 1444, after the older crane had burned down.