1st stop: Jewry Gate (Judenpforte)

The medieval Jewish quarter is located between the main market square (Hauptmarkt), Jakobstrasse, and Stockstrasse. By the 14th century, it had developed into the most densely built-up area within the city walls. Here, Jewish families, a total of up to 300 persons, lived in close vicinity to the city’s Christian population. They formed a community with their own synagogue and other institutions.

A Jewish quarter is no “ghetto.” Still, there was a certain separation between Jewish and Christian habitations. On the Sabbath the quarter became an „eruv“, and in times of danger it offered protection. In one such situation, in the year 1338, the Archbishop and the municipal authorities agreed that the doors and windows of the Jewish habitations “leading into the public streets of Trier” should be walled up. Back then, the number of entrances to the quarter was limited to three gates. The Minor Jewry Gate led into Jewry Lane (Judengasse), while the Major Jewry Gate (Grosse Judenpforte) led into Stockstrasse, and the Lower Jewry Gate (Untere Judenpforte) opened out from the quarter to Jakobstrasse. The gates were closed at night and open throughout the day.

The Minor Jewry Gate was built around 1219. It was possible to determine its age by dating the tree rings of the wooden beams (dendrochronology). Today we can still see the anchorage points for the barring chain on both sides of the gate.

Presumably the western transverse arches were added at the beginning of the 17th century, to allow for constructing the Renaissance half-timbered house above. At the end of the 18th century the gate was extended toward the market square in order to adapt it to the building line of Simeonstrasse.

Eruv (Sabbath boundary): Within the eruv enclosure Jews are allowed to do certain things otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath according to Jewish law. The eruv area is usually surrounded by walls or fences, sometimes also by symbolic boundaries, and considered a common home by all residents. Such an eruv chatzeirot allows for carrying things outside the house, otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath.