Královské město Slaný

Velvarská Gate

Velvarská Gate - the last gate of Slaný and one of few rests of the fortificaton at all. It already was a part of town fortification in the pre-Hussite period (resp. the end of the 13 th - the beginning of the 15 th century) similarly as the other gates. Actual reports about it date back to the year 1443. Since it had been renewed in the reign of Jiří from Poděbrady it was called ´a new gate´. Some documents give evidence about this fact, among others Latin inscription about supervision of two counsellors - Aleš Krejčí and Václav Novika - over construction of the tower on the inner wall in the square to which the date 1461 written over the third window probably refers. The fact that the gate was probably finished in the 2nd half of the 15th century seems to be proved also by the rest of its relief decoration. Rich decoration has been preserved on the side towards monastery - there is a big town emblem under the cornice, 6 signs of guilds in the middle over the arc, torso of a dog on the left corner, a man´s head next to it under the cornice ( perhaps the architect of the gate) and others.

Velvarská gate originally consisted of the gate itself, a building in front of the gate with battlements, a bridge over a dry moat and moreover, it was shielded with a bastion. Its late-Gothic face remained unchanged during the following centuries. In the 16 th century the gate burnt out several times and was restored again. In 1795 the gate was furnished with a bell originally placed in the town hall which burnt down. The bell dates back to the year 1514 which is proved by the inscription MCCCCCXIIII LETA OD NAROZENI PANA NASSEHO GEZISSE KRISTA - ´MCCCCCXIII YEARS SINCE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST´ S BIRTH´. The bell has 0,51m in average, it is 0,35m high and its weight is 96kg.

After the town walls had been pulled down the building before the gate was destroyed in the years 1823 - 1824 and the gate itself was nearly demolished. During a reconstruction in 1868 a new copper cock was placed on the top of the tower - a symbol of vigilance and wariness - which was a copy of the original one from the year 1612. The last reconstruction was carried out in the years 1993 -1994.