Mølleporten
Mølleporten is the former eastern town gate of Stege on Møn in southeastern Denmark. The building was listed on the Danish register of protected buildings and places in 1918. It is one of only two surviving Medieval town gates in Denmark, the other being Vesterport in Faaborg. The four-storey gatehouse is located just inside Stege Town Rampart, a somewhat reduced earth rampart which runs from Stege Bay in the west to Stege Nor in the east. The building was restored with economic support from Realdania in 20192022. Its upper floor provides fine views of Stege's historic town centre.
History
Around 1430, Stege Byvold was constructed along the northern edge of the town. The structure consisted of a wall built on top of an earth rampart with a moat in front of it. Three gate towers were constructed towards the end of the century, one on each of the three roads which passed through the rampart. Mølleporten was the eastern of these town gates. The name refers to its location at the end of the no longer existing street Møllestræde. Most of Stege's windmills were located on Møllemarken outside the gate.The first reference to the building in written records is in Stege Bysbog from 1531. The inscription of the year "1674" on a limestone ashlar indicates that the building was subject to a major renovation in that year.
In 1685, it was decided to station one half of the Royal Horse Guards on Møn. At the same time, Samuel Christoph von Plessen, their commander, was appointed county governor of the island. He chose to demolish much of the town wall and two of the town's three town gates to provide building materials for a new main building on the Nygård estate, leaving only Mølleporten intact. He installed a prison cell on the first floor of the Mølleporten building. Plessen was known for his brutal treatment of local farmers and general misuse of power, something that earned him the nickname "The Evil Pless". It was included on the Danish register of protected buildings and places when the new Danish Building Protection Act was adopted in 1918. The adjacent Stege Town Rampart was also listed on the register of protected buildings and places in 1918.
It was not until 1987 that the gateway was closed to traffic. Larger vehicles were able to pass through the rampart just south of the building.