Epiphany Gate

Bayenturm to Dreikönigenpforte after Anton Woensam's woodcut from 1531

The medieval Dreikönigenpforte was a small gateway to the city ​​fortifications of Cologne on the Rhine side . It was first mentioned in the sources for the year 1296 as "porta r (h) eni".

history

Like the curtain wall on the field side, the Rhine Wall was a 13th century building. With these additional wall sections, the city closed on the Rhine side the emerging outer semicircle of the fortifications, which stretched between the Bayenturm in the south and the Kunibertsturm in the north of the city.

With the wall on the Rhine built in addition to the field side, the city had taken a precautionary measure, but behaved quite carelessly on the side already protected by the river until the 15th century. So it was allowed that the wall was built over in many places for private purposes, by building oriels and even summer houses on or above it . The building permits were, however, linked to the proviso that the buildings had to be available to the city in the event of a defense. The same applied to the real estate leased or sold by the city itself on or in the ring and Rhine wall, such as the Hasenpforte on Thurnmarkt and other buildings that it sold. In the 15th century, stricter standards were applied and steps were taken against the conditions and excesses on the Rhine Wall.

Location of the gate

The walls of this southern portion flanked the above of the current and whose "Warftgeländes" extending Leinpfad for towing of the upstream-moving boats and cargo ships facing, as well as the city, extending between the Bayenpforte and the timber market Bayenstraße.

As in the sources litus Reni designated properties above the Bayenstraße were the "yard Beyen" with about 300 acres (owned by the Virgin of St. Claren south of the later Dreikönigenstraße mentioned Drancgazze (1188-1210), and the northerly) of this The grounds of the Linhof, which has belonged to the Leinschläger fraternity since 1287 .

Change of gate names

A cabbage mill was built on the Linhof grounds in 1401 , after which the gate initially received the official name "porta molendinorum", but was called the mill gate by the population. In addition, Rheinmühlen settled in the front area of ​​the river, the relocation of which from the previous anchorage at Mühlengasse (“platea molendinorum”) in the old town was not completed until 1582. In 1427 she was mentioned as "Molenportzgin" across from Dreikönigenstrasse. In 1470 the gate was mentioned as "Lynhofporz", but since 1493 at the latest it has been called the Dreikönigenpforte permanently. The entry into the shrine in 1493 also provides the reason for the name change. In it it said:

" Up the Warve by dem Koenyncksportzgin, because the hylige drij koenynk painted staint ".

These images of the three wise men were placed over the gate and were on the Cologne Cityscape of 1531 of Anton Woensam indicated. This work, Woeensam's “Great View of Cologne”, has been preserved to this day.

Bayen wall section

After Woensam, a first superstructure of the Rhine wall was connected to the north of the Torburg Bayenturm, which was followed in the further course of the wall by an arched doorway. The other wall was exposed on its side facing away from the city up to the cantilevered bay window of a private house.

Above the bay window, above the top of the wall, there was a massive building with a stepped gable , which belonged to Hof Brempt (later Bremt) located west of Bayenstrasse and mentioned in the shrine files as early as 1302. The superstructure, named Haus Siegburg after a family Jakob von Siegburg and inhabited by them until 1598, was integrated into the defense system of the city as a Wiekhaus (called "Wichhus" = battle house) and accessible from the battlements. This building, which was connected to the wall, was followed by the Epiphany Gate , which was decorated with the figures of the three wise men painted over it. Beside her, one of the many joined in the ramparts erected watchtowers, a goal with a conical roof superior semicircular wall tower in the watch-order of the year 1468 as a new tower was called.

Loss of function and termination

Bayenturm and House Siegburg (Bremt) after S. Prout 1824

The Dreikönigenpforte lost its function as a gateway at the beginning of the 15th century. According to Keussen, the archway is said to have been walled up as early as 1407, but was preserved as a building for defense purposes. The paintings above the archway were later replaced by two coats of arms , the fields of which were decorated with gold-plated brass crowns. According to a depiction of Wenceslaus Hollar, the neighboring house in Siegburg / Bremt was in a dilapidated condition around 1635 and was restored in 1658. The upper floor with the stepped gable was removed and above the chamber of the "Wichhaus" the building received a new half-timbered structure with pointed gables on all sides. The high building was generally regarded as the "prospectus" on the Rhine. With the old bay tower, the house offered a picturesque sight, which was the reason for numerous artists of the time to paint a panorama of this section of the Rhine.

One illustration of the painter “S. Prout ”from 1824 that the still preserved, if no longer original, building of the Dreikönigentore is handed down in the picture. The picture shows, to the right of the towering Siegburg House, the building of the former gate, two storeys lower, which was provided with loopholes-like openings in Prussian times . In 1849 the house in Siegburg / Bremt was demolished and in 1854 the old gate building was demolished.

Memories of the past city gate

Symbol of the three kings

The last owner of the farm Bremt which Scholaster "for Puetz" the pen St. Severin had three brass crowns of the Epiphany gate in his generation fund, which in 1819 the city was returned by him and at the city hall front of the old market received their place, their whereabouts nothing is currently known.

Dreikönigenstrasse

The old southern Trankgasse, which had become Dreikönigenstrasse (like the northern one between the cathedral and the main train station ), led from the gate of immunity of the St. Severin An der Eiche monastery to the banks of the Rhine. The street, called Drancgazze until 1210, remained true to its namesake, the gate with the images of the three kings. This was even the case during the French era , when the street was named Rue des trois Rois on January 1, 1813 in the Itinéraire de Cologne .

literature

• Hans Vogts , Fritz Witte: The art monuments of the city of Cologne , on behalf of the provincial association of the Rhine province and the city of Cologne. Published by Paul Clemen , Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne , Düsseldorf 1930. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf. Reprint Pedagogischer Verlag Schwann, 1980. ISBN 3-590-32102-4 .
• Hermann Keussen : Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages , in 2 volumes. Cologne 1910. ISBN 978-3-7700-7560-7 and ISBN 978-3-7700-7561-4 .
• Adam Wrede : New Cologne vocabulary . 3 volumes A - Z, Greven Verlag, Cologne, 9th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7743-0155-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hans Vogts, Fritz Witte in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , Vol. 7, Dept. IV, “Rhine-side gates and Wartbauten”, p. 139 ff
2. ↑ ^{a b} In: Hermann Keussen, Chapter XII. The fortifications in the Middle Ages, section “The Rhine Wall” in Volume I, page 185
3. ↑ ^{a b} Adam Wrede, Volume I, page 153
4. ↑ ^{a b c} In: Hermann Keussen, Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages in Volume II, map of the St. Severin district, panel XII and excerpts from the St. Severin shrine, page 171 ff and 338 b

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 30.8 "  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 55.4"  E