Gate of the BCR Headquarters Building (Bucharest, Romania)

A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the super ...

s. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or

path A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

; But other terms include ''

yett A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mech ...

and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall or fence, rather than a barrier which closed it. Gates may prevent or control the entry or exit of individuals, or they may be merely decorative. The moving part or parts of a gateway may be considered "

doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

", as they are fixed at one side whilst opening and closing like one. A gate may have a

latch A latch or catch (called sneck in Northern England and Scotland) is a type of mechanical fastener that joins two (or more) objects or surfaces while allowing for their regular separation. A latch typically engages another piece of hardware on t ...

that can be raised and lowered to both open a gate or prevent it from swinging. Locks are also used on gates to increase the security. Larger gates can be used for a whole building, such as a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

fortified town A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. Actual doors can also be considered gates when they are used to block entry as prevalent within a gatehouse. Today, many gate doors are opened by an automated gate operator.

Purpose-specific types of gate

Baby gate A baby gate or child safety gate is a protective barrier designed to prevent babies and toddlers from accessing areas of a home that may not be safe for them, such as stairways and kitchens. Baby gates are typically constructed of metal, plasti ...

a safety gate to protect babies and toddlers *

City gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

of a

walled city A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

Hampshire gate A Hampshire gate, New Zealand gate or wire gate is a type of agricultural gate formed from a section of wire fence which can be removed temporarily. This type of gate is used where access is only needed occasionally, or when the cost of a conven ...

(a.k.a. New Zealand gate, wire gate, etc.) *

Kissing gate A kissing gate is a gate that allows people, but not livestock, to pass through. The normal construction is a half-round, rectangular, trapezoidal or V-shaped part-enclosure with the free end of a hinged gate trapped between its arms. When the ...

on footpath * Lychgate with a roof *

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

''Japanese:'' gate. The religious torii compares to the Chinese pailou (paifang), Indian

torana ''Torana'' ( sa, तोरण; '' awr-uh-nuh') is a free-standing ornamental or arched gateway for ceremonial purposes in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain architecture of the Indian subcontinent. Toranas can also be widely seen in Southeast Asia and ...

, Indonesian Paduraksa and Korean

hongsalmun In architecture, a ''hongsalmun'' is a gate for entering a sacred place in Korea. ''Hongsalmun'', also called ''hongjeonmun'' or ''hongmun'', are usually erected to indicate Korean Confucian sites, such as shrines, tombs, and academies such as ...

. Mon are widespread, in Japanese gardens. * Portcullis of a castle * Race gates a gate used checkpoints on

race tracks A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...

. *

Slip gate Slip Gates,Clifford also known as Stang Stoops, Yatsteads or Stang Pole Gateways are a form of simple gate that once commonly in Europe controlled access to fields, lanes, etc. using removable cross-bars and two fixed posts, often of stone. The ...

on footpaths * Turnstile *

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

of a castle by navigable water *

Slalom skiing Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill, necessitating quicker and shorter turns. Intern ...

gates *

Wicket gate A wicket gate, or simply a wicket, is a pedestrian door or gate, particularly one built into a larger door or into a wall or fence. Use in fortifications Wickets are typically small, narrow doors either alongside or within a larger castle or ...

Image gallery

File:Gate ajar.jpg, This gate and massive gateposts has no locks—a gate marks a

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

line in ownership/use and can allow passage. File:Garden Gate.JPG, A small, elegant gate to a meadow path File:Pergamonmuseum Babylon Ischtar-Tor.jpg, Ishtar Gate is the oldest

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

in existence File:Wringin Lawang, Trowulan.jpg, Wringin Lawang, a 14th-century

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia) ...

split gate, called ''"

Candi bentar Candi bentar, or split gateway, is a classical Javanese and Balinese gateway entrance commonly found at the entrance of religious compounds, palaces, or cemeteries in Indonesia. It is basically a candi-like structure split perfectly in two to cr ...

"'', in

Trowulan Trowulan is an archaeological site in Trowulan Subdistrict, Mojokerto Regency, in the Indonesian province of East Java. It includes approximately 100 square kilometres and has been theorized to be the site of the eponymous capital city of the ...

, Java, Indonesia File:Ubud temple entrance.jpg, Richly decorated Indonesian

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and N ...

nese temple gate called Paduraksa File:Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia 8 by David Shankbone.jpg, This gate at Columbia University was closed to prevent entry of protesters File:Finlayson gate1.jpg, The gate of Finlayson factory in Tampere, Finland File:Kansai University,1923.jpg, A gate at

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as Kansai Law School in 1886, It has been recognized as one of t ...

, built in 1923 File:MalKingsPalaceGate.jpg, Malaysian King's Palace Gate,

Kuala Lampur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

File:Ohrid Upper Gate close-up.jpg, Medieval ironclad city gate, from the Upper Gate in the old town of

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...

File:Chinese_type_gate_from_kerala.jpg, Chinese traditional type gate (iron gate in front of house) in

Kerala, India Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

File:MuscatRoadGate.jpg, Gates decorate routes in the entrance of

Muscat, Oman Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate wa ...

File:Kuwaitgate.jpg, Kuwait Gate, historically surrounded

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

, built in 1929 File:Royal Military College of Canada front gates.jpg,

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

front gates and gatehouse File:Ernst Rudolph By the Entrance.jpg, Ernst Rudolph, ''By the Entrance'' File:Royal_Mint_Melbourne.jpg, Decorative emblems of state are also fixed on gates to public buildings, old Royal Melbourne Mint File:Shri Swaminarayan Mandir gate.jpg, Gate of Shri Swaminarayan Mandir,

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state ...

, India File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University gate on the eve of Namvistar Din celebrations.png, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University gate on the eve of Namvistar Din celebrations reflects Ajanata art File:Michael's Gate and tower-Bratislava-Slovakia.JPG, Michael's Gate in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

, Slovakia File:St Louis Gateway Arch.jpg, St. Louis

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider ...

File:Shunfeng Park Paifang (night).jpg, A Chinese

Paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles ...

Foshan Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...

, China File:Warszawa, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26-28 20170516 001.jpg,

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

main gate, Poland File:Gate of Farm Gunsteling in Namibia (2017).jpg, Gate of Farm ''Gunsteling'' in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

(2017) File:Ancient gate of Suandok temple , Chiangmai , Thailand.jpg, Thai Temple ( wat) gate at

Wat Suan Dok Wat Suan Dok ( th, วัดสวนดอก, , roughly "flower garden temple"), also known as Wat Buppharam (, ) is a Buddhist temple (Wat) in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. It is a Royal Temple of the Third Class. The temple is on Suthep Roa ...

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

File:Ariyalai Mahamari Amman Kovil (அரியாலை மகாமாரி அம்மன் கோவில்).jpg, A

gopuram A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' ( Tamil: கோபுரம், Malayalam: ഗോപുരം, Kannada: ಗೋಪುರ, Telugu: గోపురం) is a monumental entrance tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the Sout ...

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hin ...

gate tower, in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

File:Eiheiji35nt3200.jpg, A Japanese temple gate (mon) at

Eiheiji 250px is one of two main temples of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, the largest single religious denomination in Japan (by number of temples in a single legal entity). Eihei-ji is located about east of Fukui in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. In E ...

File:Puerta Torre de los siete suelos Alhambra Granada Spain.jpg, A

Moorish architecture Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture which developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (on the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). The ...

gate in

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of ...

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

File:Gate of the Thai Embassy in Paris.jpg, A

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-manner gate of the embassy of Thailand in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

File:Embassy of South Korea in Moscow, gates.jpg, Adapted-

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

-manner gate of the embassy of South Korea in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

File:Iron Gates-Osgoode Hall National Historic Site of Canada-Toronto-Ontario-HPC4258-20221201.jpg, The Iron Gates of

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Doors Fortification (architectural elements) Garden features

Purpose-specific types of gate

Image gallery

See also

References

External links