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OLD GOLDEN GATE




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After the Theodosian land walls had been built, the wall of Constantine quickly fell in ruins. The only part of it that is known to have survived for a longer time is the old main or Golden Gate, that survived until the ottoman time and was destroyed by a earthquake only in 1509. The medieval name (H)exakionion means "with six columns"; it suggests that the gate was similar to the Golden Gate of Diocletian's palace in Split and had a upper storey decorated with six columns and niches in between on the outer side. In the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire, this upper storey apparently was used as a funerary chapel, and parts of the building decorated with frescoes.

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