Editing Brandenburg Gate (section)

===Previous gates===
[[File:Karte berlin akzisemauer.png|thumb|The [[Berlin Customs Wall]] with its eighteen gates, around 1855. The ''Brandenburger Thor'' (Brandenburg Gate) is on the left.]]
[[File:Das Brandenburger Tor-GDR-65-7-1.jpg|thumb|The old Brandenburg Gate in a 1764 engraving, 30 years before its [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] reconstruction]]

<!--- {{Location map|Germany Berlin|label=Brandenburg Gate| lat_deg=52 | lat_min=30 | lat_sec=59| lon_deg=13 | lon_min=22 |lon_sec=40|position=right|float=right|caption=Location in modern Berlin}} --->
In the time of [[Frederick William I of Prussia|King Frederick William I]] (1688), shortly after the [[Thirty Years' War]] and a century before today's Brandenburg Gate was constructed, Berlin was a small walled city within a [[star fort]] with several named gates: [[Spandau]]er Tor, St. Georgen Tor, Stralower Tor, [[Köpenick|Cöpenicker]] Tor, Neues Tor, and [[Leipzig]]er Tor ''(see map)''. Relative peace, a policy of [[religious tolerance]], and status as capital of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] facilitated the growth of the city. With the construction of [[Dorotheenstadt]] around 1670 and its inclusion in Berlin's city fortifications, a first gate was built on the site, approximately at the level of today's Schadowstraße, consisting of a breach through the raised wall and a drawbridge over the dug moat.<ref>Laurenz Demps: ''Der Pariser Platz. Der Empfangssalon Berlins.'' Henschel, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-89487-215-2, S. 24</ref>

With the expansion of Dorotheenstadt to the west and the construction of the [[Berlin Customs Wall]] ({{langx|de|Akzisemauer|link=no}}) in 1734, the latter of which enclosed the old fortified city and many of its then suburbs, a predecessor of today's Brandenburg Gate was built by the Court Architect [[Philipp Gerlach]] as a city gate on the road to [[Brandenburg an der Havel]].<ref name="demps91-20">Laurenz Demps: ''Zur Baugeschichte des Tores.'' In: ''Das Brandenburger Tor 1791–1991. Eine Monographie''. Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-922912-26-5, p. 20</ref> The gate system consisted of two [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] pylons decorated with [[pilaster]]s and [[Trophy of arms|trophies]], to which the gate wings were attached. In addition to the ornamental gate, there were simple passages for pedestrians in the wall, which were decorated with ornamental vases at this point.<ref>Willmuth Arenhövel, Rolf Bothe (Hrsg.): Das Brandenburger Tor 1791–1991. Eine Monographie. Mit Beiträgen von Laurenz Demps, Sibylle Einholz, Dominik Bartmann u. a. 2. verb. Auflage. Willmuth Arenhövel Verlag für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-922912-26-5.</ref>