Pile Gate (Vrata od Pila) (Dubrovnik)

 Pile Gate (Vrata od Pila) (Dubrovnik)

 

Description of the Pile Gate

Pile Gate (Vrata od Pila) (Dubrovnik)

Pila Gate (pile means 'gate' in Greek) is located at the Western entrance to the old part of medieval Dubrovnik. Most tourists enter the Old City through these fortified city gates. The name Pile has Greek origin and can be translated as the "door". Symbolic keys to Dubrovnik Pile Gate are preserved in the Rector's Palace or Prince's Palace in Dubrovnik. Pile Gate was part of much larger fortress that was erected on this site in 972. It was increased and subsequently increased in size and complexity. In 1460 an Inner Pile Gate was erected in Gothic architectural style.

 

Pila Gate stands at the gateway to the ancient city, on the western side of the outer walls, there is a stone bridge between two Gothic arches, which were designed by the prestigious architect Paskoje Miličević Mihov in 1471. Bridge has three arches and benches along its length. That bridge connects with another bridge, a wooden drawbridge, which can still be erected.During the times of the republic, the wooden drawbridge of the Puerta de Pila was raised every night with considerable pomp, in the ceremony the keys were handed over from the city to the rector of Ragusa. Today it spans a dry moat whose garden offers a break from the crowds. A Renaissance Outer Entrance Gate was constructed in 1573 replacing medieval Pile Gate.  Above the bridges, above the arch of the main city gate, there is a statue of the local skipper: San Blas, (in Croatian a: Sveti Vlaho), with a model of the Renaissance city.

 

A Renaissance Outer Entrance Gate was constructed in 1573 replacing medieval Pile Gate. Fortress was demolished in 1818 to make way for newer structures of a growing city. However Pile Gate remained in place.