The Secrets of 8 Amazing Historic Doors

Doors are an often overlooked part of historic buildings, but these entryways can have incredible stories to tell. As entrances, exits, or portals to another world, doors can be thrown open in welcome or slammed shut to imprison. Below are eight amazing examples of historic doors.

The Vatican Doors that Julius Caesar Walked Through

The enormous bronze doors of St. John Lateran in the Vatican are more than 2000 years old—and are still in use today. They were constructed around 80 BCE as part of the Curia Julia, where the Senate sat, in the Roman Forum. Julius Caesar would have walked through these grand doors each time he came to address the Senate. In 1660, Pope Alexander II had the doors moved from their original position to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the oldest papal basilica in Rome, where tour groups now walk where emperors stepped.

A Door Covered in Georgian Graffiti

During its restoration, a recently discovered wooden door at Dover Castle in southeast England was found to be covered in graffiti. But not just any graffiti—the carved pictures  were created by soldiers who lived in the castle and defended England’s coastline in the Georgian era. 

In 1790, the British military renovated the old medieval castle as a bulwark against a possible invasion by Napoleon. The threat might have played on the minds of the soldiers serving at the castle: One etching shows a man wearing a military uniform and a bicorne hat being hanged, which historians have suggested could be a wistful depiction of Napoleon himself. The door has more than 50 different carvings, with some showing dates ranging from 1790 to 1855. Some are scrawled names like Hooper and Downam, and one artist scratched a fairly accurate picture of single-masted sailing ship. The door is now on display at the castle and represents a rare example of ordinary people leaving their literal mark on history.

The 20 Locked Doors in the Taj Mahal

The beautiful 17th-century Taj Mahal in India contains many mysteries, but one will remain mostly unanswered: the question of what is behind the 20 locked doors in the historic building’s basement. In 2022, an Indian politician petitioned the Indian High Court to ask that the doors be opened, but judges dismissed the case. 

The Taj Mahal was constructed from red sandstone and white marble as a mausoleum for Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz, who died giving birth to their 14th child. A secret shrine to the Hindu god Shiva was rumored to be hidden behind the locked doors, but historians have refuted the idea, suggesting that the “secret” doors merely concealed underground rooms used by visitors to the tomb, and that they had been locked after flooding caused damage. The rumors of hidden Hindu gods provoked controversy because the Taj Mahal is widely accepted as an Islamic building, and the speculation has exacerbated tensions between Indian Hindu and Muslim populations.

Britain’s Oldest Door in Westminster Abbey

The oldest door in Britain, which is also the oldest known Anglo-Saxon door, was discovered in Westminster Abbey in 2005. The modest wooden panel, made from five oak planks, leads to the abbey’s chapter house. Scientists used dendrochronology (the study of tree rings) to deduce that the tree used to make the door was felled around 1032 CE, and that it likely stood in eastern England in forests owned by the abbey. HIstorians believe the door was made about 1050 during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, the same monarch who had the abbey consecrated in 1065. The door was originally around 9 feet tall with a curve at the top, but it was cut down to its current size of 6.5 feet high and 4 feet wide in 1245 when King Henry II had the abbey remodeled. Countless people have walked through the door in its nearly 1000-year history, from kings and queens to clerics and ordinary folk. If those planks could talk!

A Stone Age Door Found in a Parking Lot

In 2010, archaeologists were called to a building site in Zurich, Switzerland, where an underground parking garage for the city’s opera house was being constructed. They were amazed to discover an ancient wooden door. It was thought to have adorned one of the Neolithic houses built on stilts that stood near Zurich’s lake after the last ice age. Tree-ring dating suggests that the poplar wood used to make the door was felled about 3063 BCE, which would mean the door was constructed around the same time as Stonehenge.

A Door Allegedly Covered in a Viking’s Skin

A runner-up for the title of the oldest door in England is found at St. Botolph’s Church in the village of Hadstock, Cambridgeshire. The Saxon wooden door has been dated to 1034–1042, but the reason why it’s famous has more to do with its alleged former covering. Local folklore suggests that the door used to be wrapped in the skin of a Danish Viking who had dared to try and raid the church. A small piece of leather was found under the hinge of the door in 1791 and taken to the local museum for preservation, seeming to confirm the grisly tale. In 2022, however, researchers analyzed the skin and discovered it was actually cow hide. This tallies with a theory that many church doors were decoratively covered in leather in the medieval period.

An Ancient Egyptian Portal for the Dead

In 2010, archaeologists found a 3500-year-old fake door, once part of the tomb of an ancient Egyptian vizier, reused in a Roman-era building in Luxor. Usually these doors remain hidden from sight because they are situated deep within ancient tombs. Dummy doors are a common feature of ancient Egyptian tombs, providing a place where the spirits of the dead can pass into and out of the afterlife. The 6-foot-tall door was made from pink granite and inscribed with religious texts, marking it as a portal between this world and the next.

Traitor’s Gate in the Tower of London

Traitor’s Gate, built in the 1270s, provided a way for royalty to access the Tower of London (then used as a palace) from the River Thames. Edward I, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I would have likely entered the Tower of London through this gate. Around 1544, the entrance became known as Traitor’s Gate after condemned Tudor prisoners were taken through it to be executed, a group that included Sir Thomas More and the nine-day queen, Lady Jane Grey. The heads of executed prisoners were often placed on spikes around the gate, making the entrance to the tower even more intimidating.

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