Jakobstor

The Jakobstor was one of four main gates in Aachen’s outer town wall built between 1300 and 1350. It stood at the end of Jakobstraße, a ridge-top street following an old Roman route into the city centre. This road linked the Jakobstor in the south-west with the Kölntor at the opposite end. Between the Jakobstor and the Rostor stood the small Lavenstein tower, about 100 metres away, while a guardhouse sat beside the gate toward the Lavenstein. The land dropped steeply toward the Junkerstor, so engineers added the Lütticher Schanze, a fortified earthwork, to protect that side. The gate’s name comes from the Jakobsweg pilgrim route that once passed through it on its way from Lüttich to Santiago de Compostela. First mentioned in 1320, the Jakobstor was also called the Schevattentor in the 15th century. During the French occupation it was renamed the Lütticher Tor because the road beyond led to Lüttich. By the early 19th century the town’s fortifications were demolished, and the gate was removed. The gatehouse was a square tower like the Ponttor, with a nearly equal-height outer gate topped by a flat roof and battlements. Its two-storey outer gate stood higher than others and used vaulted ceilings instead of beams, making the roof strong enough for a blide, a stone-throwing siege engine. A blide is recorded at the Jakobstor in 1349. Today the ridge still carries Jakobstraße, and traces of the old defences remain near the route’s course.