Pile Gate and Saint Saviour Church: The Ancient Drawbridge

Why is it significant?

Walk across the stone arch bridge over the green moat garden toward the formidable double bastion of the Pile Gate.

Key Facts

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Walk across the stone arch bridge over the green moat garden toward the formidable double bastion of the Pile Gate. Look above the outer Gothic archway to the carved stone niche where Saint Blaise, the beloved patron saint of Dubrovnik, stands holding a delicate miniature model of the medieval walled city in his left hand. Every single evening during the golden centuries of the Republic of Ragusa, the heavy wooden drawbridge beneath your feet was hoisted up by chains with ceremonial trumpet flourishes, and the iron keys to the city were formally handed over to the presiding Rector for safekeeping until sunrise. Just inside the gate stands Saint Saviour Church, built in fifteen twenty by grateful citizens after a massive earthquake; notice its unblemished Renaissance facade, which survived the catastrophic earthquake of sixteen sixty-seven completely unharmed. Step through the inner archway into the radiant white limestone expanse of the Stradun.