Shortly after the city was surrounded with a wooden palisade, which was mentioned in 1325, the construction of the city defence walls from stone and brick and the city gates was started. First in order were the two gates (Młyńska (mill) and Holstens’) at both ends of the city’s main communication tract, which ran through today’s Grodzka and Michała Mostnika Streets. The New Gate was definitely built later, which is indicated by its name and the spatial arrangement of the adjoining buildings. The first stage, probably during the first half of the 14th Century, saw the construction of the lower parts of the gate, with a pointed arch passage on an axis with a Wendish (Slavonic) theme of brick binding. The upper storey, up to the height of the current crowning cornice, was added during s 1380 – 1385. From the direction of the city, this storey had a large, pointed arch opening, which was filled with bricks in approximately 1441. A brick gatehouse was added halfway through the 14th Century. In 1477, a fire consumed the tops and the pitched roof of the gate. About 1650, the gate was crowned with a baroque copula and covered with a hip-tent roof with a lantern in 1724.
During the years 1724 – 1755, the New Gate hosted a criminal prison and a House of Forced Labour – a wool spinning mill, which employed beggars, vagrants and Gypsies. In 1836, the entrance was broadened and the gate’s west facade was renovated. From halfway through the 19th Century to the outbreak of World War I, the gate was used as military workshops. In 1924, after renovation and adaptation work, the regional museum was opened here, the exhibits of which covered the collections of the historical and travel association founded in 1906. The gate acted as a museum until 1965. That year, the museum was moved to the renovated Castle of the Dukes of Pomerania. After the renovation and adaptation work, the gate became the home of the “New Gate” Art Workshop Gallery.
The New Gate is a massive structure, founded on a rectangle with the dimensions of 12.3 x 10.5 m and height of 16.8 m. The top of the west facade (from the direction of Plac Zwycięstwa) is divided by seven vertical panes (two of which have window openings), which are closed with segments, and finished in a frieze. The low storey, which is separated with a horizontal, even belt, contains a pointed-arch opening to the former entrance (currently glassed in), with supports on the sides. The upper part of the east facade (from the direction of Nowobramska Street) has a visible, bricked-in former pointed-arch opening, which hosts pointed-arch windows and an entire row of narrow recesses, also finished with pointed arches. The side facades are decorated with friezes running along the top and a row of pointed-arch blends.
It is also the place of the bricked-in shooting openings. The gate is covered with a hip roof crowned with a lantern with an eight-stretch copula.
