Southport Gates — Attraction in Gibraltar

Tucked between the stone bastions of Gibraltar’s old city walls, the Southport Gates stand like silent sentinels, each telling a chapter of the Rock’s complex and layered history. Framed between Trafalgar Road and Main Street, near the shadowed trees of Trafalgar Cemetery, the trio of gates forms a portal not just through stone—but through time.

The oldest of them, the Southport Gate, was born in 1552 from the hands of the Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi, under the orders of Emperor Charles V. Known originally as the Puerta de África, it once bristled with defenses—a drawbridge, a deep ditch, and the imperial arms carved proudly in stone. This was Gibraltar on edge, a fortress bracing for corsairs like Barbarossa, who had raided the coast just a decade earlier.

Centuries later, in 1883, the British added the New Southport Gate, wider and more accommodating to the demands of Victorian-era traffic. The emblems of Queen Victoria, Governor Sir John Adye, and the Rock itself crown the arch, standing watch beside a hulking RML 10-inch gun, a relic of 19th-century military might. But time did not stand still. In 1967, amid the stirrings of modern identity, the Referendum Gate was cut into the wall—a symbolic and literal widening—marking the moment when Gibraltarians overwhelmingly chose to remain British in a historic sovereignty vote.

Though weathered, the gates remain strong. A recent restoration gently peeled away centuries of wear—removing roots, reviving carved shields, and resetting lime mortar. New plaques now guide curious eyes through their history. Today, the Gibraltar Heritage Trust preserves them not just as stone structures, but as cultural memory, woven into the national pride that erupts each September 10th, Gibraltar National Day, when the Referendum Gate becomes more than an entrance—it becomes a reminder of choice, of belonging, and of...

Un buen trozo de historia. Están ubicadas en la Muralla de Carlos V, una de las fortificaciones del siglo XVI de Gibraltar. La primera y la segunda Southport Gates se construyeron en la actual Trafalgar Road en 1552 y 1883, respectivamente. La tercera puerta, Puerta del Referéndum, es la más ancha de las tres y se construyó en 1967 en Main Street, inmediatamente al oeste de las dos primeras puertas.

Southport Gate en sus orígenes era conocida como la Puerta de África. Fue construida por el ingeniero italiano Giovanni Battista Calvi en 1552, bajo el reinado de Carlos V, emperador del Sacro Imperio...

This south port gate was known as the Gate to Africa. The walls are thick and the wooden doors are pretty cool. There is a big cannon and a cemetary right beside it down...