Lower Gate — The Fortification Under the Main Street
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
The archaeological remains of the Lower Gate sit beneath Hlavná Street, exposing part of the fortification system that once controlled entry to Košice from the south. What is now a broad pedestrian axis was once interrupted by walls, ditches and regulated passage.
The buried gate is valuable because most successful cities eventually remove defensive bottlenecks. Fortifications that once protected commerce later obstructed expansion and traffic.
Here archaeology literally underlies the modern public realm. The city did not preserve every wall above ground; it incorporated some remains into an underground museum so contemporary movement could continue overhead.