Hola. Me alegra conocer a los colaboradores de España. (Please kindly excuse me for asking questions in English, as I do not understand Spanish, and although English is not my native language, I hope you will understand.)
I have a strong interest in cultural attributes and differences.
Regarding the “Porta de Santiago” in Lugo, while its shape resembles a gate with an open passage, based on its characteristics, I wonder if it should be considered more as an archway or an open gateway rather than a gate used for control.
Therefore, I would like to ask a few questions about the “Porta de Santiago” in Lugo:
Since it exists as part of the city walls, did it serve a role in controlling access or defending against enemies? The walls themselves are obviously defensive structures, so if so, why does this structure lack a door leaf?
Alternatively, could it be understood primarily as a symbolic boundary separating the secular world from a (religiously) sacred space?
Additionally, I would appreciate your thoughts on whether this structure might relate to the attributes of the “ceremonial gate” key currently being discussed.
I am based in a different part of Spain, so I would defer to anyone with specific knowledge of Lugo. But from what I know it appears to be a fairly typical city gate - in this case having its origins in one of the five gates in the defensive walls built by the Roman military. It definitely had a defensive and control function originally and for much of its history. Wikipedia says that the wooden doors in the gates of Lugo, which would have allowed access to be closed, were eventually removed in the 19th century.
It is not connected to a sacred space, as the city inside the walls is a civc institution. Any symbolic role it may have (as a symbol of the city, for example) arises as a side effect of its original use.
For all these reasons I don’t think it matches your concept of a ceremonial gate.
I’m from Lugo. What alan_gr said is correct. I leave you some info from galician wikipedia about this gate (translated by a machine, sorry):
The ancient Postigo Gate (Posticu or Porticu) and in Galician, Pexigo or Pexigu, which seems to derive from a small gate within a larger gate. It already existed in Roman times. Its dimensions are: 4.15 m wide, 5.50 m high, and 6.90 m to the parapet wall.
In 1759, it was renovated to allow carriages to pass and its interior was decorated with a niche with the image of Saint James the Moor-Slayer and the coat of arms of Bishop Izquierdo. It was a private gate for the exclusive use of the canons to access their gardens until 1589. In times of plague, it was the gate that remained open and had a drawbridge.
Some more info. This is from “LA MURALLA ROMANA DE LUGO SISTEMA CONSTRUCTIVO” by Jose Ignacio López de Rego Uriarte:
It was known in ancient times as Postigo, Posticu Portico, and Pexigo, names related to its size. It was a gate for private, not public, use.
Today it is a gate with two asymmetrical naves, the larger one made of slate ashlar, and the other of granite ashlars.
The arches and the rest of the walls are made of granite ashlars. The impost on which they rest is an ashlar with a notch, like a bracket, forming the base of the transverse arch.
On the exterior, it ends at the height of the parapet walk with a granite molding on which rests the Baroque baluster of acorn-shaped iron bars.
It was considered an exit door, which is why the decoration is done on the inside. It is a niche, resembling a comb, in which the image of Santiago Matamoros was placed, an iconography alluding to one of the most famous battles of the Reconquista, that of Clavijo, which took place, according to tradition, in 844. Below, the bishop’s coat of arms and the date of its reform, 1759, appear.