Pfaffenpforte

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The Pfaffenpforte or north gate (Unter Fettenhennen / Burgmauer) was a Roman city gate in the north of Cologne's old town and was one of the most important entrances to the city. Its southern counterpart was the Hohe Pforte .

Pfaffenpforte and Roman tower in the west-west Cologne cityscape from 1570 by Arnold Mercator ; lower left the south tower of the cathedral, left St. Margareten , right St. Andreas

Emergence

The period of its creation is controversial. According to one view, the Roman north gate came from the Flavian period between 50 and 90 AD. According to another view, the later erased inscription of the emperors Valerianus and Gallienus (253–260 (?) And 253–268 points to a construction phase in the 3rd century ) ). At that time, a new name of honor for the city was carved into the outer, field-facing arch of the main gate: "Valeriana Gallieniana", named after the emperors Valerian and Gallienus. This honorary name was erased under the ruler of the Gallic Sonderreich, Postumus , after AD 260, as indicated by the wide shave of the inscription on the archway in the Roman-Germanic Museum . Since the Roman city wall and the north gate were built within a short period of time, there is much to be said for the Flavian period. It was officially called "Porta clericorum" or "Porta paphia". “Paphia” indicates that it worshiped the goddess Venus. According to another opinion, the temple of Venus Paphia should have stood at this point . The north gate was originally a three-arched structure. The 11-meter-long central passage led through the huge gate building like a tunnel; The Roman road Cardo maximus ran here for wagons , which led north to Novaesium (today: Neuss ). The more than 30 meters wide gate system with the two square towers was almost 6 meters wide and ensured that wagons or troop units could pass through without problems. The narrow side corridors were intended for pedestrians.

The central arch spanning the street has been reconstructed and is therefore known. On the north side of this arch, the letters CCAA ( Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ) were subsequently carved on its archivolt in the 3rd century . The gates were framed by fluted pilasters , of which the base and the lower part of the shaft have survived on the preserved side passage. The arch system was flanked by two square towers with a side length of 7.60 meters. The entire system, made of Roman lime mortar and stone from basalt , trachyte , greywacke and limestone, was 30.50 meters wide and 11.60 meters deep. The central passage was 5.60 meters wide, the side passages 1.90 meters each, the reconstructed height to the roof ridge was 27.50 meters. In the preserved part of the gate on the Domplatte (replica) one can see a groove on the west side, in which the portcullis of the central passage hung. This portcullis shows that the gate was two-story.

  • Pfaffenpforte (oil painting around 1582)

  • Pfaffenpforte, watercolor by Heinrich Oedenthal (1840)

  • Middle gate of the Roman tower on the north side, walled in in the atrium of a school building in Pipinstrasse (1883)

  • Reconstruction of the Roman north gate, watercolor by Georg Heuser (1908)

  • Reconstruction of the Roman north gate, watercolor by Georg Heuser (postcard, 1913)

North gate with the inscription CCAA

Caesarius von Heisterbach calls the gate "Porta clericorum". It derived its name from the " priests " who visited Cologne Cathedral ; at that time the word still had a positive connotation. "At that time it was already set up as apartments for cathedral clergymen, and at the time of Caesarius the dean Adolphus lived there, who later ascended the episcopal chair of Cologne: Archbishop Adolf I. One can conclude from the brief mention of the Pfaffentore at Caesarius that it already had bay-like extensions. Our writer reports that a cathedral canon stepped to the bay window of the Porta paphia (fenestra solarii Portae clericorum) and outside saw the dean Ensfried of St. Andrew, followed by several poor, blind and lame people. The street at the Porta paphia does not seem to have been in particularly good condition at the time, for the canon continued to see Ensfried, who himself was old and frail, extended his hand to every poor man so that he could take the stones that stood out there on the street , exceed. ”In a document from Niederich from 1228 it was finally called“ Paffenporcen ”.

Relief on Cologne City Hall : Hermann Gryn's fight with the lion

The legend of fighting a lion

The lion's head attached above the gate points to a legend according to which Mayor Hermann Gryn was supposed to be thrown to the lions to be eaten by two canons of Archbishop Engelbert II von Falkenburg in 1262 . However, Gryn managed to kill the animal. It is reported that the later King Rudolph I came to Cologne the next day and found out about the events. He had the two canons hung from a beam in the Pfaffenpforte. The legend symbolized the ongoing dispute between the city and the archbishop. According to chronicles from the late 15th century, this episode took place in 1262.

Only after this time did the people of Cologne call the north gate “Pfaffenpforte”; Koehlhoff's chronicle , published on August 23, 1499, first mentioned this name. In the Cologne cityscape of 1570 , Arnold Mercator took them into account as "Paffen pforts". Here you can see that the north gate spanned the street Unter Fettenhennen and controlled access to the city and the cathedral. As "paffinporze" it is in the already 1228 Schreinsbüchern of Niederich mentioned.

Conversions

The gate was built over with a solarium (sun terrace with bay window) around 1076 and underwent changes in the course of time due to this construction and subsequent multiple reconstructions and new buildings of the cathedral mechanics adjoining to the east. Renovations were carried out in 1606, 1616 and 1621. The north gate remained largely in place until 1657, the central arch still served as a passage, but no longer as the city entrance. It was then redesigned by including it in the north portal of the new cathedral mechanic building for cathedral dean Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg , which was completed in 1658 .

Demolition and remains

From 1826 the individual components of the Roman findings took different routes.

Main archway

Roman North Gate in the Roman-Germanic Museum (September 2007)

In 1826 the part of the Domdechanei in which the central arch of the north gate was located was demolished in order to widen the street under Fettenhennen . At the instigation of conservator Johann Anton Ramboux , the land-side archway came to the Wallrafsche Museum in the "Kölner Hof" in June 1827 , where it was lying around in the courtyard for a long time. Since 1883 it had been walled in in the Lichhof in a side wall of the school on Pipinstrasse. During the Second World War , the school on Pipinstrasse was totally destroyed on May 31, 1942, but the remains of the Roman wall were preserved. The original fragments have been exhibited in the Roman-Germanic Museum since March 1974 .

Eastern side arch (pedestrian gate)

In 1892, when the remaining parts of the cathedral mechanic were demolished, the foundations of the eastern side passage and parts of the landside pillars were rediscovered. They were built into the north wall of the building (former outside of the Roman gate). A few years later, a city debate broke out over the question of whether this eastern pedestrian gate and the other remains should remain in place or should be demolished or moved for the extension of the tram. The pedestrian gate was free and was separated from the public space by a small fence. A decision was finally made through imperial approval in 1896: the gate was moved to the northwest corner of the Wallraf Museum at the time near the corner of An der Rechtschule and Drususgasse . It stood there until well into the post-war period, before it was returned to its current location near the original site.

  • Situation in 1965: The pedestrian gate is to the side of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum at that time.

  • Pedestrian gate at the current, elevated location on the Domplatte.

Foundations

The foundations of the north gate have been preserved at the site to this day. Due to the construction of the Domplatte, it is now in the underground car park below.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jennifer Lauer / Alfred Schäfer, The Roman North Gate of Cologne , in: Der Limes, issue 1/2014, p. 17 ff.
  2. ↑ Paphia at Etymological Dictionary
  3. ^ Ferdinand Franz Wallraf , Selected Writings , 1861, p. 12.
  4. ↑ IV, 5; IX, 43
  5. ↑ Brockhaus, Blätter für literary entertainment , 1831, p. 699.
  6. ^ Egid Beitz, Caesarius von Heisterbach and the fine arts , 1926, p. 18
  7. ^ Philipp von Steinau, Die Volkssagen der Deutschen , 1838, p. 35.
  8. ^ Johann Georg Theodor Grasse, Book of Legends of the Prussian State , Volume 2, 1871, p. 74.
  9. ↑ Yearbook of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz, Volume 2 / Volume 50, 2004, p. 400.
  10. ↑ Yearbooks of the Association of Friends of Antiquity in the Rhineland , Volume 14, 1859, p. 38.
  11. ^ Richard Klapheck, Die Baukunst am Niederrhein , 2013, p. 236.
  12. ↑ a b A. Minjon: The "Porta Paphia" in Cologne . In: Rheinische Geschichtsblätter . tape 8 . Bonn 1897, p. 246 f .
  13. ↑ Martin Rüther, Cologne, May 31, 1942: The 1000 Bomber Attack , 1992, p. 110.
  14. ^ Otto double field: The Roman city wall of Cologne . In: The art monuments in the Rhineland. Cologne investigations. Ceremony for the 1900 anniversary of the city's foundation. Supplement 2. Ratingen 1950, p. 11 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '28.8 "  N , 6 ° 57' 22.7"  E