City gate

A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. Other terms include port.

Uses

City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods and animals. Depending on their historical context they filled functions relating to defense, security, health, trade, taxation, and representation, and were correspondingly staffed by military or municipal authorities. The city gate was also commonly used to display diverse kinds of public information such as announcements, tax and toll schedules, standards of local measures, and legal texts. It could be heavily fortified, ornamented with heraldic shields, sculpture or inscriptions, or used as a location for warning or intimidation, for example by displaying the heads of beheaded criminals or public enemies.

City gates, in one form or another, can be found across the world in cities dating back to ancient times to around the 19th century. Many cities would close their gates after a certain curfew each night, for example a bigger one like Prague or a smaller one like Flensburg, in the north of Germany.

City Gate (Port of Spain)

City Gate is the main terminal for the buses and maxi taxis in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the former Trinidad Government Railway terminal on South Quay. It was slated to serve as the terminal for the proposed rapid rail system. The City Gate terminal is a historical landmark. It was responsible for connecting Port of Spain to the rest of the island via railway. The building itself displays authentic European architecture. Today, it serves as a bus terminal and is a major destination for commuters from all over the nation.

See also

City Gate (Valletta)

A total of five city gates have served as the main entrance to Valletta, Malta's capital city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first gate was originally known as Porta San Giorgio, and it was later renamed Porta Reale, a name which was retained by the successive gates, and which was corrupted into Putirjal in Maltese. Since the 1960s, the entrance has been known as City Gate, or Bieb il-Belt (City Door) in Maltese. The current City Gate was built between 2011 and 2014 to a design of Renzo Piano.

The city gate is built in the Porta Reale Curtain, a curtain wall at the centre of the Valletta Land Front, located between St. James' and St. John's Bastions. The Triton Fountain and Valletta's bus terminus are located just outside the City Gate. A bridge spanning across Valletta's deep ditch leads to the gate. The gate marks the beginning of Republic Street (formerly Strada Reale), Valletta's main street which goes all the way until Fort Saint Elmo at the opposite end of the city. The buildings in the immediate vicinity of the City Gate include the Parliament House, the ruins of the Royal Opera House and the City Gate Shopping Arcade. Saint James Cavalier and Saint John's Cavalier are located on either side of the gate, near the Parliament House and shopping arcade respectively.