The most important of the 12 gates that gave entrance to Cologne was the west gate, known as the Hahnentor. After their coronation in Aachen, German kings arrived in Cologne through this gate to revere the shrine of the Three Magi in the Cologne cathedral.
The gate was built between 1235 and 1240 and was probably named after a citizen named Hageno, who owned the nearby land. This eventually morphed into Hahnentor (cock gate). The word burg, loosely translated to castle or bastion, refers to the defensive nature of the gate.
The Hahnentorburg has two semi-circular, crenellated towers. The city's coat of arms is depicted above the entrance. The tower was restored in 1890 by the city architect Josef Stubben; a memorial plaque commemorates the architect's construction of Neustadt (new city) between 1881 and 1898 outside the former city walls. The tower was severely damaged during the Second World War, but was later reconstructed.