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THE 6TH GATE OF THE ALBA CAROLINA CITADEL
THE 7TH GATE OF THE ALBA CAROLINA CITADEL
October 24, 2017
THE 5TH GATE OF THE ALBA CAROLINA CITADEL
October 23, 2017THE 6TH GATE OF THE ALBA CAROLINA CITADEL
It is on the Western side of the citade and finished the gate’s route because the main access was done beginning with the 1st gate. The western gates were used mostly by the troops inside the citadel because they ensured the exit towards the training field (the „Romans’ Plateau” area). Along with the construction of the 18th century bastionary citadel, the hearth of the city moved on the eastern side of the citadel, towards Mures river after city extended towards the west as well.
Coming from the 5th gate, the route goes along a short part of the Holy Trinity Bastion counterguard, a construction raised outside the main body of the citadel, the 6th gate goes through the counterguard and, by means of the bridge placed in front of it, the gate ensures the exit from the citadel.
We must mention the fact that the counting of the gates from 1 to 6 (even 7 if we count the gate on the northern side) is a recent custom, dating in the 20th century. The current 6th gate was also called „Michael the Brave gate” around 1920, as one may see in the postcards of the time, probably because back then it was considered that this king entered inside the medieval citadel using the gate on its western side. One thing is for sure, through this gate, in 1919, king Ferdinand entered in Alba Iulia, during the first visit of a Romanian sovereign inside the Union citadel.
The 6th gate was treated in simpler manner, far from the complexity of the shapes and from the abundance of decorations of the first four gates. Actually it is formed from two large pillars made up from stone blocks built one on top of the other on top of which the restoration team placed two cannonballs on fire, also made from stone, just like on the 2nd and the 4th gates. Between the two pillars there probably was a wooden on iron gate. An almost 6m long bridge made possible the passing over the ditch in front of the counterguard. For many decades the gate, as well as the western side, was not part of the public access of the citadel.
The 6th gate is the last of the gates that entered in the restoration process being finished in 2012.
Scientific consultant: Tudor Roșu, PhD historian
Translation made by: Ciprian Dobra, PR expert
It is the gate through which the king Ferdinand and the queen Maria entered when they visited Alba Iulia for the first time in 1919. Through here they entered again in 1922 when they were crowned as sovereigns of the Great Romania.
The 6th gate is located on the western side of the Alba Carolina Citadel, on what is the third line of defence for the fortification, on the counterguard. The monument is a small one, being composed of two massive pillars made from overlapped stones, without any decoration elements, and linked to the brick wall.
The restaurateurs placed two unexploded stone cannonballs on top of these pillars. The pillars are the limits of a vehicle access way through which, by a slightly curved narrow passage, one can get to the nearby gate, the 5th. For several decades, the 6th gate, like all the western side of the fortification, was not a public access area.
The present form is the result of a restoration project completed in 2012. It was the year in which the Tourist Tour „the Gates of the Citadel” was inaugurated, a tour that cuts the Citadel from east to west. In other words, it makes the link between the Civic Centre and the Roman’s Plateau neighbourhood, in the western side of Alba Iulia City.
