Limes Arabicus: Resafa V, The main Gate
The main gate is located on the north walls. The gate is arranged in three arches and five arcades of extraordinary elegance underlined by a frieze minutely sculpted. Six Corinthian columns supporting a graceful pediment, frame three arches opened in the north walls.
The magnificent North gate of Resafa is probably the finest city gate to survive from the antiquity: one of the most beautiful examples of Byzantine military architecture in the world. The nature of the gate was both defensive and religious: a propylaeum to a sanctuary comparable to the greatest religious propylaea of the pagan architecture.
The martyrdom of St Sergius in 305 brought the city into prominence because the Sergius’ martyr-shrine built in Resafa, soon became a major center of pilgrimage.
The access road to St Sergius’ Cathedral started from this gate: the sacred road of Resafa was perhaps the greatest of the Christian sacred processional ways in the East.
Limes Arabicus: Resafa V, The main Gate
The main gate is located on the north walls. The gate is arranged in three arches and five arcades of extraordinary elegance underlined by a frieze minutely sculpted. Six Corinthian columns supporting a graceful pediment, frame three arches opened in the north walls.
The magnificent North gate of Resafa is probably the finest city gate to survive from the antiquity: one of the most beautiful examples of Byzantine military architecture in the world. The nature of the gate was both defensive and religious: a propylaeum to a sanctuary comparable to the greatest religious propylaea of the pagan architecture.
The martyrdom of St Sergius in 305 brought the city into prominence because the Sergius’ martyr-shrine built in Resafa, soon became a major center of pilgrimage.
The access road to St Sergius’ Cathedral started from this gate: the sacred road of Resafa was perhaps the greatest of the Christian sacred processional ways in the East.