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Bruchstraße is the Red light district of Braunschweig. It runs between Wallstraße and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Straße. Two gates stand at either side of the street. The one from Wallstraße stands open mostly and the other from Friedrich-Wilhelm-Straße allows a permanent narrow entrance. Bruchstraße´s history as a red-light district stretches back to the middle ages. The Bruch was a marshland enclosed by the arms of the River Oker, but was reclaimed by draining and dumping, resulting in the establishment of a haphazard settlement. Because of its position on the edge of town and its lack of supervision, this became an ideal hiding-place for persons escaping from the hands of law. Prostitutes also set up a shop despite a prohibition against prostitution issued in 1594 - previously they had worked in bordells in Echternstraße and Mauernstraße.