Jakobstor

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Jakobstor, tower without a name and Eyerkeilturm , woodcut by Karl Josef Gollrad .

The Jakobstor was a city ​​gate of the outer city wall of the city of Aachen, built around 1300–1350 . It is no longer preserved.

location

The Jakobstor stood at the end of Jakobstrasse, which runs on a ridge that extends from the southwest into the city center of Aachen. Since this street, which followed the original Roman road, was one of the main arteries of Aachen, the Jakobstor was one of the four main gates of Aachen. At the opposite end of this main artery was the Kölntor.

In the outer ring of the wall , the Jakobstor stood in the southwest between Rostor and Junkerstor . Only the Lavenstein stood between Rostor and Jakobstor , about 100 m from the Jakobstor. Right next to the Jakobstor in the direction of Lavenstein was one of the guard houses of the Aachen city wall . Towards the Junkerstor the area sloped steeply, so that a ski jump- shaped kennel was required here for protection, the Lütticher Schanze . On the ring of the wall stood the unnamed tower between Jakobstor and Junkerstor, and on the corner of the front wall of the Zwinger, the Eyerkeilturm .

All city gates except for the Jakobstor lay on a circular path with the center on the Katschhof , an open space between the octagon of the cathedral and the town hall . To explain why the Jacob's Gate protrudes from this circle, two theories are discussed.

  • The tower of the Jakobskirche was originally intended as the gate . This was one of the outer works of the inner wall, and a settlement had formed around it. It was to remain and had to be protected by a wall.
  • The course of the terrain required the construction to be brought forward. The area of ​​the Lütticher Straße to be monitored made it necessary to build a protruding city gate further upwards.

history

The Jakobstor was built near the original Jakobskirche , the tower of which had already served as the outskirts of the first city wall to defend the city. The Jakobstor was first mentioned in documents in 1320. However, it is unclear whether it was already completed at the time or whether the substructure was just there. The gate (and the Way of St. James ) got its name from the fact that the Way of St. James ran over this street and through this gate via Liège , Paris and Bordeaux to Santiago de Compostela . In the 15th century the gate was also known under the name "Schevattentor".

During the French occupation of Aachen , the gate was called the “Liège Gate” because it was an extension of Jakobstrasse, which - like the B 264 today - was Liège Strasse and led to Liège. In the first quarter of the 19th century, the gate was demolished in the course of the razing of the Aachen city fortifications.

description

The gate construction of the Jakobstor was a square gate similar to the Ponttor . Its front gate was almost as high as the gateway and had a flat roof with a crenellated wreath. The entrance gate had only two storeys, but these were much higher than other entrance gates and, unlike these, had no beam ceilings but vaults. This made the flat roof stable enough for a throwing machine, e.g. B. a blide with which attackers advancing on the ridge or who had penetrated the kennel could be shot at with rocks or burning pots of wood. A throwing machine for the Jakobstor is first mentioned in 1349.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Research tasks on the Aachen city plan

literature

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 9.6 "  N , 6 ° 4 ′ 27.6"  E