The Great Gates of Praise

We look at some of the famous gates in the world. Then, there's the gate that leads us into the presence of God!

With Thanksgiving arriving this week,  many folks will be heading over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house for the big day and the even bigger meal. The week of Thanksgiving is typically the most active time for travel in the United States, with airports and roads jammed with people trying to get into or out of the city. It's a time that stretches our transportation infrastructure to the brink, but a little luck and a lot of patience will allow us eventually to see the skyline or the city limit sign of our hometown. We know that a certain view, a certain exit, a certain landmark means that we're almost there.

That's a different experience from what most people would have had in the old world of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. When traveling to a major American city, the only gates one is likely to encounter are at the airport or at the tollbooth.

For centuries, however, old world cities were almost uniformly surrounded by defensive walls dotted with gates that...