The main entrance to the old town and the most impressive among the Zadar gates is the ornate City Gate (also called the Land Gate–Kopnena vrata in Croatian), on the southern side of the old town in the little Foša harbour. It was built by a Venetian architect Michele Sanmicheli, finished in 1543 and it is considered one of the finest monuments of the Renaissance in Dalmatia. Adorned with six columns supporting a pediment it has the form of a triumphal arch with three arched gateways – the middle passage for wheeled traffic and two smaller side gates for pedestrians.
It is decorated with the coats of arms of both Zadar and the Venetian Republic, with motifs such as St. Chrysogonus (Zadar’s main patron saint) on his horse and winged lion in between as the symbol of St Mark (the patron saint of the Republic of Venice). Previously, the area had been highly defensive, with a surrounding moat.