Harju värav (0)

z Harju gate. First recorded in 1361 as MLG smedeporte, and Lat. porta fabrorum a few years later. Interestingly, while ‘smithing’ is most commonly associated with iron (perhaps mistakenly paired with the unrelated verb ‘to smite’), both the Lat. and Eng. originally referred to skilled workers or craftsmen, as does the Est. sepp, in both cases, makers of stuff. During the late 15^th and early 16^th C, the gate extended some 60 m from the city wall with gatehouse and portcullis, corridor or neck with machicolations, intermediate flanking towers, second neck, and barbican with drawbridge (a small, glass-covered exhibit on the corner of Vabaduse väljak and Harju marks the spot). Beyond this was another 40 m or so of wooden bridge across a moat. The city has since adopted a more accommodating policy towards visitors.