The mini exhibition of the Object of the Season series will present the results of excavations that uncovered the 13th century Old Town fortification wall and a gate named after the nearby Church of Saint Valentine.

In the years 2016–2017, when Na Kocandě House in Křižovnická Street no. 71/I was under reconstruction, about 26.5 metres of the Old Town wall dated from the mid-13th century were uncovered. The north part of the house cellar revealed a gate that received its name after the nearby Church of Saint Valentine.

Later on, an older closeable passage was discovered on the site of the unique Valentine Gate. This gate with the original internal diameter of 2.55 metres uncovered the southern jamb and the doorsill beam. Based on dendrochronology, the wooden sill was made of an oak cut down sometime after 1239.

Later, the Valentine Gate was probably rebuilt for operational reasons, as evidenced by its expansion to the detriment of the fortification wall. The new Valentine Gate with a sandstone portal was slightly elevated and shifted to the south. The internal diameter is about 3.6 metres, or rather 3.3 metres at the foot of the spur-stones. Based on dendrochronology, the uncovered parts of the oak sill for the fitting of the new door date from 1260+ and 1272+. Therefore, the later gate must have been reconstructed after 1272.

The gate pavement, covered with organic impurities, included several lost horseshoes and their parts as well as multiple fragments of small iron objects.

The City of Prague Museum