Porte du Croux, Medieval gate in Nevers, France

Porte du Croux is a stone gate tower on rue de la porte du Croux in central Nevers, rebuilt between 1394 and 1398. Its wide central arch is flanked by a round turret rising from mid-height to the top, and a row of corbels supports a projecting parapet with dark vertical openings beneath a steep roof. Slots in the masonry once carried the chains of a drawbridge over the now-buried Passière stream.

A gate on this spot is documented in 1194, when Pierre de Courtenay built the town ramparts. The present structure was rebuilt between 1394 and 1398, and an outer gate was added in 1422. The gate lost its defensive role in 1578, when the aldermen walled it up during the Wars of Religion.

The gate's name comes from the "croux" quarter it controlled: an alderman administered this district and taxes were levied on goods entering the city here. In 1847 Baron de Vertpré bought the abandoned gate and gave it to the municipality on condition that it be restored and hold a museum of Nivernais antiquities.

The gate stands on rue de la Porte du Croux in central Nevers, a short walk from the city's main streets. The Passière stream that once ran beneath it is now buried, so the drawbridge slots are best seen by looking closely at the stonework. The building is not a museum; the archaeological museum is elsewhere.

The slots that guided the drawbridge chains over the Passière stream, a tributary of the Loire now buried underground, can still be seen in the stonework. The gate also collected taxes on goods entering Nevers, and an alderman administered the quarter attached to it.