Trier's most famous landmark, this brooding 2nd-century Roman city gate – blackened by time, hence the name, which is Latin for ‘black gate’ – is a marvel of engineering, since it’s held together by nothing but gravity and iron clamps. In the 11th century, the structure was turned into a church to honour Simeon, a Greek hermit who spent six years walled up in its east tower. After his death in 1134, he was buried inside the gate and later became a saint.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.4 MILES
Constructed around AD 310 as Constantine’s throne room, the brick-built basilica is now an austere Protestant church. With built-to-impress dimensions …
23.17 MILES
This château's extraordinary outline is the result of an almost-total 20th-century restoration after the original, built from the 11th to 14th centuries,…
Musée d'Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg
25.1 MILES
Hidden within a series of 17th- to 19th-century houses, including a former ‘holiday home’ of the Bishop of Orval, the city's history museum is engrossing…
24.91 MILES
Beneath the Montée de Clausen, the clifftop site of Count Sigefroi’s once-mighty fort, the Bock Casemates are an atmospheric honeycomb of rock galleries…
24.59 MILES
Groundbreaking exhibitions of modern, installation and experiential art take place in this airy architectural icon designed by Pritzker-winning architect…
25.13 MILES
Hailed as 'Europe's most beautiful balcony', this pedestrian promenade winds along the course of the 17th-century city ramparts with views across the…
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0.24 MILES
Looming above the Roman palace of Helena (Emperor Constantine's mother), this cathedral is Germany's oldest bishop's church and still retains Roman…
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20.91 MILES
The Moselle might be better known for its wine, but a former Cistercian monastery, founded in the 13th century, now houses this extraordinary brewery,…
Nearby Trier attractions
Adjoining the Porta Nigra, in the 11th-century priests' residence Simeon's College (retaining an original 1060-laid oak beam floor in the double-storey…
0.21 MILES
Trier's cathedral was built on the site of the palace of Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine). The prized exhibit here is a 4th-century Roman…
0.22 MILES
Anchored by a 1595 fountain dedicated to St Peter and the Four Virtues, Trier’s central market square is surrounded by medieval and Renaissance…
0.24 MILES
On the Hauptmarkt, the Rotes Haus was the house of the bakers' guild master and secretary of the cathedral chapter, Johann Wilhelm Polch.
0.24 MILES
Upstairs in the historic Steipe building on the Hauptmarkt, the Spielzeugmuseum is chock-full of miniature trains, dolls, wooden soldiers and other…
0.24 MILES
To peer into Christian history, from late Antiquity through to Romanesque, Gothic, baroque and the 19th and 20th centuries, head to the Domschatz. Along…
0.24 MILES
Looming above the Roman palace of Helena (Emperor Constantine's mother), this cathedral is Germany's oldest bishop's church and still retains Roman…
0.26 MILES
Germany’s oldest Gothic church was built in the 13th century. It has a cruciform structure supported by a dozen pillars symbolising the 12 Apostles (look…