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Czluchów Gate is the only surviving gate out of the three entrances which once led to the town. The remaining two (Młyńska and Gdańska) were pulled down in 1838. The gates constituted a significant element in the town’s defensive system. All of them had drawbridges at the front, with bridgeheads protecting it from the other side. A six-floor Czluchów gate was built on a square plan in the Pomeranian Gothic style. Its first floors form an entrance, with doors which are considered to have led to rooms with a mechanism for lifting the portcullis and the drawbridge.
Throughout history the gate has served different purposes. It was used as a watchtower and armoury, then it functioned as a prison for municipal residents. This is when the inscriptions engraved on the brick walls come from. The gate was also a bell tower for Protestant Churches. Today, it houses the exhibition rooms of the Historic and Ethnographic Museum.
The Museum’s collection has been divided into four sections: archaeological, historical, ethnographical, and artistic. The last one is located on the top floor and hosts temporary exhibitions. It overlooks the town from four different directions, offering magnificent views.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.