Porte Saint-Nicolas (St Nicolas gate) is an historic gate in the French village of

Ervy-le-Châtel Ervy-le-Châtel () is a commune in the Aube department in north-east France. Population Sights *Arboretum Saint-Antoine * Round hall * Porte Saint-Nicolas See also *Communes of the Aube department The following is a list of the 431 co ...

, in the department of

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

History

Porte Saint-Nicolas takes its name from a small statue of the

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

on the inside of the gate. It was built in the 16th century to provide access to the walled medieval town, and was originally approached from the outside by way of a wooden

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

. The northern of the two towers was used as a temporary prison. In 1837 the towers were rebuilt and the drawbridge replaced with a permanent stone bridge. It is the only surviving medieval gate in Aube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Porte Saint-Nicolas (Ervy-le-Chatel) Individual doors Fortifications in France