The Water Gate

The extension of the walled area of Butrint in late antiquity and the Middle Ages altered the appearance of the city radically. However, the access to the south bank of the Vivari Channel, or at least to a landing stage for a ferry, in the area near the Great Basilica remained vital. As a consequence a new gateway was constructed in the later enceinte, at the southern end of the limestone-paved road that for centuries had been the principal entrance to Butrint.

The city walls here form an extensive, square re-entrant, with the new gate on the northern side. This space may have constituted a port or inlet for beaching boats. The structure of the gate that exists at present is almost entirely medieval and was probably erected between the 13th and 15th centuries. It is likely that an earlier late-antique gate also existed here, though no traces of this now remain.

There are two principal phases of construction visible. Firstly, the sections of curtain wall with merlons on either side of the gate portal were constructed in limestone with square putlog holes. Sometime later the central section, with the gate portal, was rebuilt in a different type of masonry using tile packing. The fairly narrow gate itself has an arch of tiles and an upper relieving arch of tiles and stones, a typical feature to be seen on other gates of this date such as the Angevin castle at Cassiope on Corfu, or on the gates of the Acropolis walls in Butrint.

As part of this rebuild, or perhaps as part of a later programme of restoration, a wall walk was added to the rear of the gate. This is a series of arcades supporting a fighting platform above, accessed by stairways from the rear. There were clearly problems with this structure as a number of buttresses were added over the centuries to sustain the arcades, one of which party blocked the gateway.

 

• Gateway to Butrint
• The Tower Gate
• The Nymphaeum
• The Water Gate
• The Hellenistic Gate
• The Roman Gate
• The Medieval Gate