EN
The Old Gateway or Roman Arch is not a Roman triumphal arch, as was once presumed, but a representative main entrance to the centre of the Late Antique command compound of the Roman Tarsatica, an ancient town on whose ruins the medieval Rijeka was built.Rijeka's common people were right in calling this ancient monument simply the Gateway while the name Roman Arch has been gradually accepted since Classicism, when it started to be documented and researched. The profiled form work of the arch is only partially preserved to be built into the houses of medieval Rijeka, the remaining parts have long fallen off or been blown up. This Principia was the main headquarters, the supply base and the starting point of the Alpine end closure, composed of dozens of kilometres of defensive walls, towers, guard-stations and larger forts mostly lacated on communication points and elevated ground for the purpose of blocking the barbarian incursions towards Italy as the centre of the Roman Empire.
HR
Stara vrata ili Rimski luk nisu rimski slavoluk, kako se nekad pretpostavljalo, već reprezantivni glavni ulaz u središte kasnoantičkoga zapovjedništva rimske Tarsatike, antičkoga grada nad čijim se ruševinama uzdigla srednjovjekovna Rijeka. Riječki je puk instiktivno bio u pravu kada je ovaj antički spomenik u prošlosti jednostavno nazivao Vratima, a naziv Rimski luk postupno se počeo prihvačati od razdoblja klasicizma, kada se započelo s njegovim dokumentiranjem i istraživanjem. Profilirana oplata Luka samo je fragmntarno sačuvana, preostali su dijelovi davno otpali ili razneseni da bi bili ugrađeni u kuče srednjovjekovne Rijeke. Principija je predstavljala glavni stožer, opskrbnu bazu i ishodište Alpske klauzure, desetke kilometara duge crte obrambenih zidina, tornjeva, stražarskih postaja i večih utvrđenja postavljenih na komunikacijama i uzvisinama, sa zadatkom zaustavljanja barbarskih provala prema Italiji kao središtu Rimskoga Carstva.