Liberty Gate

This is a recent opening in the northern town wall between the two rectangular towers of grand master Heredia on the axis leading to the mole and Fort of St Nicholas in the area of the medieval Arsenal. It dates from 1924, during the Italian occupation of Rhodes. The side arches for pedestrians on either side are even later. The Italians called the gate Porta Nuova; in the 1934 Regulatory Plan of the medieval town by architect Florestano di Fausto, it is shown as Porta dei Cervi (=of the Deer)– presumably because deer were already kept in the part of the moat crossed by the stone bridge of the new gate, so that passers-by could admire them.

Actually, the Liberty Gate has replaced a smaller medieval opening with a segmental arch. The old gate crossed the advance-wall 37 metres to the east: the corresponding passage is still visible, though sealed, on the counterscarp of the moat. A row of gunports high in the advance-wall cover the sealed opening. In medieval sources this gate is called Gate of St. Nicholas, as it led to the mole named after the saint and the little church at its northern end: the latter was replaced by Fort St. Nicholas under grand master Pere Ramon Zacosta in 1464-66. The gate gave access to the innermost part of Mandraki Harbour and must have been mostly used by the personnel of the arsenal, since it was defended by a straight stretch of wall starting from the Tower of St. Peter and reaching the sea to the northeast. The Gate of St. Nicholas was sealed by grand master Aubusson in 1501.

The modern name, Liberty Gate, commemorates the annexation of the Dodecanese by the Greek State in 1947. In association with the nearby Gate of the Arsenal, at right angles to it, it allows the movement of traffic between Mandraki, the principal harbour and the Bay of Acandia.