The gate leading to the former free zone of the Szczecin port was built in 1900 in an eclectic style. It consisted of a centrally located guardhouse with two gates for pedestrian and four for vehicular traffic. The customs control building is located on the left side of the gate.
Interestingly - the gate has its replica in ... Brazil. In the 1990s, Wolfgang Weege (born 1945 in Brazil), the son of immigrants, came up with the idea of honoring Szczecin as the capital of Pomerania - the region from which the first immigrants came - explains Albert Ramlow, director of the Pomerode City Tourism and Marketing Office. - The main gate of the Duty Free Port of Szczecin was the last structure they saw before embarking on to America. Mr. Albert explains that the gate is a thank you to the ancestors, a symbolic transition between the old and the new residence.
It is also supposed to show the sentimental attachment to the land of the forefathers. It is an attempt to show or transfer the history, art and architecture of Szczecin to Brazilian palm trees.
The ornate portal was named Portico do Immigrante (Gate of Immigrants) and was built in the northern parts of the city on the road leading to the city of Jaragua do Sul. The grand opening took place in 2000 as part of the 41st anniversary of establishing municipal rights.