Dreikönigenpförtchen

At the walls of the monasteries and collegiate churches, the city's legal power and tax authority once ended – beyond them began the protected immunity district. The small gate is not to be confused with the medieval Dreikönigenpforte, a passage in the riverside city fortifications that was demolished in 1854.

The gate owes its name to a 19th-century tradition: according to it, the relics of the Three Kings were first brought to St. Maria im Kapitol after their arrival, the most important church in Cologne alongside the cathedral.

The present Gothic gate was newly built in 1460 by councilman Johannes Hardenrath on the site of the Romanesque structure. On the Lichhof side, a sculpture group depicting the Adoration of the Magi from 1310 sits above the passage. The figures were once painted in colour, the niche background decorated dark blue with golden stars.

In 1842 the city architect Johann-Peter Weyer restored the gate. The structure was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt from 1946 onwards. Since 1981 the four figures of the Adoration group have been replaced by copies; the originals are held in the Museum Schnütgen.