Epiphany Gate

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Epiphany Gate

The hidden Dreikönigenpförtchen (Kölsch: "Dreikünnijepöötzche") is the only one of the gates of the many former Cologne monastic immunity districts that has been preserved. At the walls of these monasteries and monasteries, the city's legal power and tax sovereignty ended. The little gate connects the Lichhof (former churchyard) of the Church of St. Maria in the Capitol with the Marienplatz.

Emergence

Johann-Peter Weyer , Dreikönigenpförtchen, India ink drawing from 1827

On July 23, 1164 Archbishop Rainald von Dassel , Arch Chancellor of Italy and Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , brought the bones of the Three Kings from Italy to Cologne as spoils of war. When he started his arduous and dangerous journey from Milan on June 9, 1164 with this gift from the German Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa , he had to use a lot of cunning to protect the valuable cargo from theft. He managed to reach Cologne unharmed and was received enthusiastically even before the city arrived. He and his cargo were led into town in a sort of procession. The gate through which this took place has not been established. According to a tradition from the 19th century, the bones are said to have been brought to the Church of St. Maria in the Capitol , the most important church in Cologne next to the cathedral. This gate to the immunity district was therefore called the “Dreikönigenpförtchen”. Whether von Dassel actually pulled the bones through the Romanesque predecessor of this Gothic gate is not historically certain. The present day gate was rebuilt by the Cologne citizen and councilor Johannes Hardenrath in 1460 on the site of the originally Romanesque passage. It was restored in 1842 by the Cologne city architect Johann-Peter Weyer . During the Second World War, the structure was destroyed and rebuilt from 1946 onwards.

The adoration of the Magi is depicted above the ogival passage of the gate; it was added later (1310). The originals are in the Museum Schnütgen , they were replaced by copies in 1981. The niche and the figures used to be colored; so the background was z. B. dark blue with gold stars.

The three kings

By keeping the bones of the Three Kings, Cologne became one of the most important pilgrimage sites north of the Alps. In their honor, three crowns were included in the city arms. However, the “three wise men” were formally neither holy nor real kings.

Trivia

The small Gothic gate is also immortalized in an old Cologne carnival song : “Nor am Dreikünningepöötzge, grandma knows how to do it” ( Karl Berbuer , 1953).

photos

  • Original sculptures, exhibited in Museum Schnütgen

  • Dreikönigenpförtchen in January 2009

  • Details of the Epiphany Gate

  • Dreikönigenpförtchen from Marienplatz

Web links

Commons : Dreikönigenpförtchen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Dreikönigenpförtchen around 1330 near Romanesque churches in Cologne

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herbert Rode: Art Guide Cologne . JP Bachem, Cologne 1966, p. 55 and the website linked below
  2. ↑ Peter Schucht: The Dreikönigepförtchen. In: Cologne ABC. January 4, 2006, accessed December 16, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Yvonne Leiverkus: Cologne: pictures of a late medieval city. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2005, p. 243
  4. ↑ factory shop Conzen Art Service GmbH: Reconstruction of the Cologne Dreikönigenpförtchens. Retrieved November 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Walter Krämer, Götz Trenkler: Lexicon of popular errors: 500 capital misunderstandings, prejudices and misconceptions from sunset to zeppelin. Frankfurt 1996, 8th edition, p. 140 f

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 3.3 "  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 32.1"  E