Port Was Closed With a Chain

The name of the Chain Gate near the Big Arsenal comes from the fact that from the Middle Ages until 1849, this gate was braced with a large iron chain that closed the entrance to the city port. It was made of 13 iron-bound beams. The other end was bound to the breakwater (Porporela). The city authorities forbade the extraction of date shells from the breakwater, and from 1630 every ship that sailed into the port had to install four large rocks into the breakwater. Today’s outline of the breakwater dates from 1927.