[4] It gave access directly to the start of Tala'a Kebira, the main souq street that crosses the medina and leads to the Qarawiyyin mosque and university at the heart of the city.

The chief of municipal services, Captain Mellier, soon laid out plans in December 1912 to open a new entrance in the city walls.

The structure is a triple-arched gate that makes use of Moorish architectural forms, with pointed horseshoe arches and a crenelated top.

[1] Strangely, the actual doors of the gate seem to close and lock from the outside; perhaps an indication that the French administration saw it partly as a means of controlling the movement of the inhabitants inside the medina.

The silhouettes of the minarets visible through the main arch when standing outside the gate are those of the Bou Inania Madrasa and the more recent Sidi Lazzaz Mosque.