Lefke Gate

The eastern gate of ancient Nicaea (modern Iznik), featuring a triumphal arch built by Proconsul Marcus Plancius Varus in the 1st century AD, with repairs carried out under Emperor Hadrian in AD 123 after earthquake damage. The triple-arched gateway had a wide central passage for chariots and narrower side doors for pedestrians, flanked by two round towers. Hadrian also commissioned an aqueduct channeling water from a spring 800 meters to the east. The gate was further expanded during the Byzantine period and remains the best-preserved of Iznik's ancient gates.