Golden Gate of Vladimir

The Golden Gate was built in 1164 as the main western entrance to Andrei Bogolyubsky's Vladimir, one of five gates in an earth and timber rampart that enclosed a city then larger than Kyiv - a limestone tower with a passage through it and a church on top, its doors reportedly sheathed in gilded copper, which is where the name comes from. Four of the five gates are gone; this one survives, which makes it among the very few pre-Mongol city gates left in eastern Europe. The ramparts either side were removed in the eighteenth century and buttressed rotundas were added to hold the structure up, so it now stands isolated in the middle of a road with traffic passing on both sides, which is not how it was meant to be seen. It is part of the UNESCO White Monuments group. Inside is a small military museum with a diorama of the 1238 siege, and a walkway at the upper level.

What you actually see

• The 1164 gate - a limestone tower with a passage and a church above.
• The survival - one of very few pre-Mongol city gates left in eastern Europe.
• The isolation - ramparts removed, leaving it stranded in a road with buttresses added.
• The museum - a small military display with a diorama of the 1238 siege.

When to go

May to September. One hour. Easily combined with the Assumption and Demetrius cathedrals on the same street.

Honest expectations

It stands in the middle of a busy road, which makes photographing it awkward and crossing to it a matter of underpasses. The museum inside is small and dated. The eighteenth-century rotundas are not original. Stairs with no lift.

Nearby

The Assumption and Demetrius cathedrals are east along the main street.