The Two Mills Gate

The Porte des Deux Moulins, in La Rochelle

The Porte des Deux Moulins is one of the oldest gates of La Rochelle, a vestige of the medieval fortifications that marked the entrance of the old town. The La Rochelle audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this gate built a first time around 1200, destroyed then rebuilt, that owes its name to two windmills today disappeared.

The oldest gate of the town

You pass under the Porte des Deux Moulins, one of the oldest gates of the town. Built a first time around 1200, it then constituted the entrance gate into the old town, in the time of the Middle Ages, when La Rochelle endowed itself with ramparts to protect its merchant prosperity. Fortified, guarded, it filtered the comings and goings and participated in the defensive device of the town. Like most of the La Rochelle fortifications, it was destroyed in 1628, during the dismantling ordered by Richelieu after the famous siege of the Protestant town: the cardinal wanted to break forever the capacity of resistance of the rebel town. The gate was then rebuilt, about the same time as the neighbouring Fort des Dames was built, on this defensive sector turned towards the sea. It stood facing two windmills that, although they no longer exist today, gave it the name it still bears. These mills testified to the activity of a town that had to feed its population and grind its grain. Today, the Porte des Deux Moulins still symbolically marks an entrance into old La Rochelle, near the preserved ramparts and the Rue sur les Murs. To cross this gate is to follow the traces of the people of La Rochelle of the Middle Ages. A medieval gate and a vestige of the ramparts, the Porte des Deux Moulins is a fine stop of the discovery of La Rochelle.

What to see

Here you discover one of the oldest gates of La Rochelle, built a first time around 1200 as the entrance of the medieval old town, destroyed in 1628 during the dismantling of the ramparts ordered by Richelieu, then rebuilt near the Fort des Dames; it owes its name to two windmills today disappeared. The Porte des Deux Moulins is a vestige of old La Rochelle. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Porte des Deux Moulins lies in the district of the ramparts of La Rochelle, near the Rue sur les Murs and the seafront, reachable on foot. It is an open-air monument, freely passable and visible. You discover it during a walk along the ramparts.

Where does the name of the Porte des Deux Moulins come from in La Rochelle?

From two windmills that formerly stood facing it, today disappeared; one of the oldest gates of the town, built a first time around 1200 as the entrance of the medieval old town, it was destroyed in 1628 during the dismantling of the ramparts by Richelieu, then rebuilt near the Fort des Dames.

Where is the Porte des Deux Moulins in La Rochelle?

In the district of the ramparts of La Rochelle, near the Rue sur les Murs, in France.