The Gautor is a city gate in Oppenheim in Rheinhessen in Rhineland-Palatinate. It dates from the 13th century and is the only gate of the medieval city fortifications that is still completely intact. Its current appearance largely corresponds to the appearance it got after it was destroyed and rebuilt in 1566.
The Oppenheimer Gautor bears this name because it once served as a connection from the city to the Gau (Old High German for landscape). It was built in the late Romanesque style in the early 13th century and secured the western exit of the town and the road to Dexheim. Oppenheim was raised to the status of a free imperial city in 1225. In addition to this inner Gautor there was also an outer one, which was also called "blue hat", but which has now completely disappeared.
In 1566 the Gautor was rebuilt for the first time after it had been destroyed (an inscription on the city side of the gate names Heinrich Blir as the master builder). After Oppenheim had been repeatedly destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and in the Palatinate War of Succession (1688-1697), the Gautor was rebuilt in 1724. In the 18th century, however, the gate increasingly lost its military importance and served as a prison from 1747. In 1912 the building was completely renovated and rebuilt, and it housed the Oppenheim City Archives until 1994.
Source: Wikipedia