Baking bread and toasting the bakehouse together was on the agenda of the local history society on May 25, 2013. Hermann Krämer solemnly opened the doors of the bakehouse "Zum Alten Rondell" at the Hachtor with the first Rüthen Baking Days. Pastor Bernd Götze did not miss the opportunity to inaugurate the bakehouse, which had been built by the local history society, with his ecclesiastical blessing.
How it came to the naming, reveals di our city archivist Friedhelm Sommer. The name is to remind of the today no more existing fortification component of the Hachtor.
At the end of the inner walls there was a semicircular, roofed stone work. It was also equipped with a gun, which in the 16th and 17th centuries was supposed to secure the moat and rampart area and made the former gate complex (with the main gate, portcullis, inner walls and the
roundel in front of it) a so-called "gate castle". This old traffic circle was therefore located directly opposite the bakehouse of the local history society.
One of the typical baked goods produced in Rüthen during the time of the Electorate of Cologne was small rye. This was a wholemeal bread that was served as an everyday bread at that time. On Sundays and holidays there was white bread or even pretzels.
From the history of the bakery trade in the town of Rüthen
The craft of the bakers in Rüthen is undoubtedly as old as the town itself, which was founded in 1200 - bread has been the most important food of the people from the oldest times to the present day, not only in the Central European cultural area. Thus, in the statutes of the town of Rüthen from the early 14th century, the bakers are listed as one of the trades present in the town.
In 1350 they have already organized our bakers as a guild. In 1553 they renewed their official rules (Nottuln) : Thus, a new office or guild master was elected annually from the ranks of the master bakers residing in Rüthen, who was also subordinated to a master baker as an official servant to carry out the business of the guild. The baker's office had its own jurisdiction over all matters of its craft, the compliance with the established professional standards and the settlement of disputes and irregularities among the bakers. The practice of the baker's trade in Rüthen was bound to the civil right; weight and quality of the baked goods were continuously controlled by the municipal magistrate of Rüthen. The weight and quality of the baked goods were continuously monitored by the municipal baker. The undercutting of fixed weight measurements could even result in a ban from the profession. Also in social respect there was a special obligation for the bakers as guild members: In times of extraordinary grain taxation a particularly low-priced bread always had to be produced for the poor in Rüthen!
Incidentally, the relationship between the respective price of the bread grain (rye, wheat) and the weight of the type of bread (small rye or white bread) was precisely determined.