Pile Gate is the oldest and initially, just after the foundation of Dubrovnik, the only entrance to the city through which practically all land traffic took place. The building consists of an internal gate, erected in the Gothic style in 1460, and an external, Renaissance one, which was built in 1537. Until 1918, a tower was erected above the internal gate, which the Austrians dismantled.
At the end of the 14th century, a single-span stone bridge was built over the moat separating the Pile gate from the mainland, which in 1471 was replaced by a stone bridge with three spans. In the 16th century, the span at the gate was demolished and replaced by a wooden drawbridge, which had much greater defensive qualities. In this form the gate has survived to modern times.
The place where the gate stands was the only connection between the mainland and the former island called Lausa. The Ragusium settlement (now part of the Old Town) was created on it, while another settlement called Dubrovnik developed on the mainland. In the 12th century, a swampy isthmus (around today's Stradun Street) separating the island from the mainland was filled in, and the settlements merged to give rise to today's Dubrovnik.
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