Festung Koblenz-Horchheimer Torbefestigung

The Horchheim Gate Fortification was part of the Prussian Fortress of Koblenz and belonged to the Niederehrenbreitstein system. It was built between 1864 and 1867 to secure the Pfaffendorf railway bridge. After its partial demolition in 1927 and further modifications to the Rhine bridge in the mid-1930s, only minor remnants of the gate fortification remain in today's Pfaffendorf district of Koblenz.

After the construction of the Pfaffendorf railway bridge with its bridge towers in 1862-1864, it was intended to be included in the fortification of Koblenz, along with the adjacent Ehrenbreitstein harbor to the north. For this purpose, the Horchheim Gate Fortification was built at the new Rhine bridge between 1864 and 1867, featuring a casemated battery, and a fortification line with a crenellated wall between the Rhine bank and the Glockenberg work. With the extension of the right Rhine route towards Cologne, the Pfaffendorf railway bridge received a northern branch in 1869. The viaduct cut through the Horchheim Gate Fortification.

After the First World War, this facility, like the other Koblenz fortresses, had to be de-fortified in execution of Article 180 of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the destruction was kept comparatively low. Only the caponier, a hollow traverse, and the railway passage including powder magazine 2 were designated for demolition. According to the Koblenz De-fortification Office, aesthetic reasons spoke for the preservation of the remaining parts, as they wanted to maintain the landscape in the immediate vicinity of the Rhine. Work on the fortification began on April 19 and was reported completed on August 30, 1927. The main building including the horse stable, a semicircular tower that was leased to the municipality of Pfaffendorf, the railway viaduct, which was rented for storage and living space, and the two bridge piers were preserved.

Since the Reich had only exercised rights of use here, the site reverted to the Reichsbahn in 1930. The entire area underwent a comprehensive redesign in 1935/36 during the conversion of the Pfaffendorf Bridge into a road bridge, during which most of the remnants were removed. Some of the rubble stones obtained were reused in the new construction of the bridge connection. The viaduct, the connection to the harbor, and the remains of powder magazine 1, which were discovered in 1990 during construction work for the Glockenberg tunnel at the so-called bottleneck, but could not be preserved due to the severely damaged building fabric, remained.

On October 1, 2008, the ramp leading from the north to the Pfaffendorf Bridge, which runs over the former railway viaduct, was closed to traffic due to an acute risk of collapse. After the damage was provisionally repaired, this area could be reopened on November 27, 2009. Since the Pfaffendorf Bridge itself also shows damage, a complete new construction of the Rhine crossing is planned for 2017.