The Eternal Gates: The Three Doors of Rome That Have Been Opening for Two Thousand Years

In Rome, there are doors that don’t just tell history — they still make it happen. These are passages that, after two thousand years, still open and close for real, as if the Empire had never ended. Across the Eternal City, only three such ancient doors survive: two remain in their original place, and one was relocated — yet it still lives, breathing the same bronze as in the old days.

The Breath of the Pantheon

In the heart of Piazza della Rotonda, the doors of the Pantheon are perhaps the most famous ancient ones still in use today. Cast in solid bronze during the reign of Hadrian, around the 2nd century AD, each one weighs several tons and still turns on its original hinges, following a meticulous restoration in the 1990s.

Passing through them, you step into a space that belongs to no particular era: a pagan temple transformed into a church, yet preserving its spirit intact. Each time those bronze leaves swing open, you can hear the metallic groan of a time that still breathes.

The Mystery of the Temple of Romulus

In the Roman Forum, not far from the Basilica of Maxentius, another door — more discreet but equally extraordinary — has been doing its job for almost seventeen centuries. It is the bronze gate of the Temple of Romulus, built in the early 4th century AD, perhaps dedicated to the son of Emperor Maxentius.

Framed by porphyry columns and crowned by a perfectly preserved arch, the door still opens today with its original locking and hinge mechanism. It is not merely a passage: it is a fragment of Roman engineering that has never ceased to function. Behind those leaves now stands the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, where pagan and Christian time coexist without conflict.

The Journey of the Curia Doors

The third pair of surviving Roman doors met a different fate. They were originally the entrance to the Curia Julia, the Senate House founded by Julius Caesar and completed by Augustus. In the 17th century, Pope Alexander VII ordered them to be moved to the central portal of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where they remain to this day.

When they open during great liturgical ceremonies, those ancient bronze doors form a bridge between two worlds: the Republic and Christendom. No other object in Rome can claim to have guarded, for two millennia, the words of senators and, centuries later, the prayers of the faithful.

Three Gates, One City

Amid a sea of ruins and reconstructions, only three ancient gates of Rome still move. The Pantheon, the Temple of Romulus, and the doors of the Curia — now at the Lateran — are more than relics: they are functioning time machines.

Each time their leaves open, the memory of a city opens too — a city that has never closed its doors to history.