Porta Nigra From Another Angle
The city of Trier is known as the oldest city in Germany. Although it known as a Roman city, it was actually the Celts who established Trier. It was taken over by the Romans and its importance grew. Trier was the seat of one of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire and just by the name alone, you can tell that it is a very important position. There are several Roman monuments that were built during this period and I am actually going on one of them right now – Porta Nigra.
Porta Nigra at Trier
As the name implies, the Porta Nigra means Black Gate. It is one of the four gates which guard the entrance to the city. Of those four gates, only the Porta Nigra remains now. I am glad that it preserved since it is a very interesting piece of architecture. Actually, I don’t think I have seen a gate that looks like this. It almost looks like a cross between a church and the Colosseum in Rome. The Porta Nigra is along what is now a major artery of Trier. It was strange that as I was walking along what appears to be a fancy neighborhood, suddenly pops out a more than thousand year old monument. I had to be across the road to be able to see the Port Nigra properly since it was much larger than I thought it would be.
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