Gate of St. Catherine

Set in a narrow fold of the relatively weak sea wall in the main harbour, a short distance from the Mole of the Windmills shielding the harbour from the east, the gate was also known as Gate of the Mole. From that point began the sector of the Knights of Castile, who controlled the entire length of the harbour wall. Its current form dates from the second half of the 15th century (1454-67). It is crowned by machicolations and was originally protected by a series of arrowslits cut through the thickness of the town wall to the east. It was also covered by the round Tower of the Mole (in medieval documents Tour des Grains or Tour du Port), standing 52 metres to the east, at the northeast corner of the enceinte. Only the foundations of this tower survive today. At a later stage the arrowslits were blocked and a new two-tier battery was built round the base of the Tower of the Mole to provide effective firepower at the approach of the gate. In the early 16th century the area was further secured by the construction of a battery for heavy ordnance at the innermost part of the harbour, part of which survives 37 metres west of the gate.

The name Gate of St. Catherine is associated with a) a nearby medieval Greek church inside the town, then dedicated to Catherine and now known as St. Panteleemon and b) the luxurious Hospice of St. Catherine founded in 1392 by the Italian Domenico d'Allemagna, a top official of the Hospital and intended for important guests of the Order. According to recent research, the ruins  along the inner side of the curtain to the east of the gate are the remnants of this Hospice; the compound they belonged to also occupied the space formerly sheltering the arrowslits covering the gate.