Small city guide through the historic city center of Brakel

The city tour starts at the marketplace in Brakel.

The town hall has a Romanesque central section, built around 1250. Around 1410, it was adapted in the Gothic style, among other things with the addition of a stair gable. The Renaissance portal with a basket arch and decorated ashlar surround dates back to 1573. On the market side, you will find two inscribed stones with proverbs.

When standing in front of the town hall, on the right you will see the Guest House. This is a former citizen's house from the 18th century with a classicist front. The predecessor buildings date back to the 14th century. Today, this building houses the tourist information office, the Brakel City Museum, as well as training and event rooms for the Youth Music Association and the Adult Education Center.

The Old Scale House is a Gothic stone house built around 1350 as the city residence of the Knights of Modexen. It served as the city's weighing house around 1553 and as a storage building for the citizens' natural taxes to the city in the form of grain contributions. Subsequently, apartments were built on the upper floor, and at the same time, it was used as a police station with a prison, a fire station, and as the city treasury. After renovation and reconstruction in 1979, the building now provides space for the Brakel City Archives and the council chamber. The ground floor is now available for exhibitions.

In front of the town hall stands the Roland Column. This is a Gothic column erected from 1385 as a symbol of market rights and later also used as a pillory.

The Market Fountain was created in 1988 by the artist Hubert Lönek from Aachen. The two groups of figures on the fountain enclosure depict events from the Brakel fairy tale and legend world.

If you walk behind the town hall, you will already see St. Michael's Parish Church. This is a three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica with a cruciform floor plan. At least one predecessor building has been documented. It is a hall church with an enclosed rectangular choir from the 9th to 12th centuries. The church was expanded with the addition of a Gothic choir in the 14th century. The partial transformation into a hall with the expansion of side aisles took place in the 16th century and in 1856. The current tower (70 m high) was built from 1846 to 1849. Major restorations took place in 1989 and 1999. The church has an organ with painted side wings by the Baroque painter Johann Georg Rudolphi.

Walk through Papengasse to the North Wall, turn right into Spitalgasse, and you will reach Königstraße. House Number 7 (Haus Sommer) was built in 1836. It is a half-timbered house where former agricultural trade took place. In 1995, it was renovated and restored.

The Old Warehouse, Königstraße 9, was built in 1821 by the Jewish family Zadoc Sudheim and Hanna Weiler.

The Central Mill, Königstraße 22, is first mentioned in a document in 1338 and later also served as a municipal mill. Around 1340, the Neustädtische Siedlung (Neustadt) was built to accommodate people from abandoned and deserted surrounding areas with so-called citizen houses.

At the end of this street, you will reach one of the four city gates, the Königstor (Mesmekertor - Messermachertor) from 1329. The Old Forge stands on the remains of the front gate. The rampart is part of the old city fortifications.

If you walk along the rampart to the end and then turn right, you will come to the Capuchin Church. The church was built from 1715 to 1718 by the Westphalian Baroque architect Johann Conrad Schlaun. We recommend taking a walk around the old monastery district first (Klosterstr., Kapuzinergasse, Neustadt, Ostheimer Str.). In the rear area, you can see a beautiful archway with a statue of St. Anthony from a more recent time. Circling around the Antonius Nursing Home, built on a historical site (1904-1974 hospital), you will reach the former monastery garden from Ostheimer Straße next to the Capuchin Church. The former Capuchin monastery was built in 1665 on the site of the old Hospital of the Holy Spirit from 1304. The monastery is a three-winged building in simple Baroque forms. From here, you also have an impressive view of the rear part of the Capuchin Church and the old monastery, now a parish center and district Caritas. On the way back to the church entrance, you will see a grotto made of slag stone on the building side, with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes inside. If you continue up the street towards the city center, you can get a good look at the simple Baroque façade of the church. Schlaun adhered to the desired restraint in building style. Only in the richness of the portal was he able to assert himself in the baroque style and splendid colors in the coat of arms representation. The simple cross placed above it comes from the Altenbeken Iron Foundry from 1769. The interior of the church is designed in a traditional Westphalian style. Johann Conrad Schlaun also contributed to the interior design.

Continuing along Ostheimer Straße, you will see House No. 14. This is the former synagogue with the rabbi's residence and school in the front building. House No. 8 is the Legge House from the 18th century. This house was originally built as a tavern with a hall and brewery and is the birthplace of Petrus Legge, the Bishop of Meissen (*1882, Bishop from 1932 - until his death in 1951), persecuted during the Nazi era. Since 1995, the house, which is under monument protection, has been renovated and restored.

You will now reach Hanekamp (pedestrian zone). There you will find the Gatekeeper's House as a remnant of the Hanekämper city gate that was located there from 1306 to 1803. You will also see a chapel and green areas, used as a cemetery of Brakel and Riesel from 1774 - 1884 and now as a war memorial.

Through the West Wall, you will reach Thy and then the oldest traffic axis (Hellweg) and a preferred medieval residential area. There you will see the "Zur Meierei" inn from 1763, the former official residence of the Sepkermeierschaft, and the Ruprecht House, presumably a former monastery courtyard with a vaulted cellar.

After a few meters, you will reach the starting point again, the marketplace.