The Gate of Pressburg

The gate on the eastern side of the lower castle including the adjacent fortification wall was built by the counts of Svätý Jur and Pezinok at the beginning of the 16th century. It is the early manifestation of the Renaissance architecture in the Devín castle. The gate was accessible by a steep slope descending down to the Danube river; that is why there was no moat in front of the gate. The entrance with a semi-circularly ended hole and a step for wooden doors was protected by massive semi-cylindrical towers ended with crenelation which is still preserved. A wooden gallery enabling fast movement of defenders was added from the inside. Towers shifted to the front of the fortification wall which allowed to defend both the area in front of the gate and adjacent sections of the wall. Enemies were thus not able to reach the wall directly and damage it by undermining. A significant feature of the walls of the Gate of Pressburg are the wall pockets arranged in horizontal lines. They are remains of the scaffolding wooden beams which used to be built in the bricked wall during construction. A completed structure was plastered top down, so the beams were removed after one another, and their beds were left there only. The nearby single room stone building with the remains of the access stairway was built circa in the middle of the 15th century. It was used as a cellar and the wooden superstructure could be used as a garner.