Mikhail Gate

The Mikhail gate was built in 1820-
1821 and is created after the Franz
fort gate of the Prussian Koblenz
fortress. The massive external
granite façade is nowadays still
decorated with the stone-cut
depiction of the Russian Imperial
two-headed eagle. Pay attention
to two arched grooves in the inner
passageway – exactly like in the
Nicholas gate, also here in case of
continued defence, the plan was to
close the passageway with stones
and sandbags with the help of
transverse crossbars. The Mikhail
passageway consisted of three
wood bridges with bascule sections
– from the Mikhail gate to the arch
gate of the 7th semi contre-garde,
but from the arch gate – to the right
front of the 6th ravelin, and further
on – from the barrier gate of the
6th ravelin corps de garde to the
road going through Esplanade to
the modern-day city centre. In 1850
inscriptions with gate names were
placed on facades of all the gates
according to the edict of Grand
Duke Mikhail – Artillery Chief of the
whole Empire – in honour of whom
this gate was named.
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