The Porte Royale is the great fortified gate that controls entry to the upper citadel from the lower town. The gate complex includes two towers, a portcullis chamber, a wooden drawbridge (now fixed), and a covered passageway -- everything a 13th-century gatehouse was meant to have.
The gate is best approached on foot up the steep medieval lane from the Place de la Marne. Above the arch are the carved arms of Louis XI, who added the outer barbican in the 1470s; on either side, plaques mark the height of the moat before it was filled in. The interior houses the citadel ticket office.