The gate of “Stambol Kapiya” was built in the second half of the eighteenth century when a part of the Vidin city was fortified – was a fortress. That fortress was built between 1690-1720, after the Austro-Turkish wars. It is used during the modern time for its system of fortifications. Stambol Kapiya is the most famous gate of the fortress, probably because through it passed the road to Istanbul (Stambol). The fortress was built in the shape of a half circle with a diameter of about 1.8 kilometers, formed by the wall that follows the river banks. The section of the Danube fort consisted of two stone walls parallel with the shore. They are interconnected with the wall of the coast and 8 bastions. It has also a dug outside trench of about 18m wide and six meters deep, which was filled with water from the Danube. The gates are 9 in number and are named after the towers (Fortress, Vidbol Kapiya, Stambol Kapiya, Kapiya Square, Janissaries Kapiya, Florentin Kapiya, Kapiya Seraglio, Wire Kapiya, Fish Kapiya). In Stambol Kapiya the trench was wider and deeper having the shape of a square basin and served as a wintering place of the Danube fleet from Turkey. To protect the bridges and gates, each of them used to be outposts, armed with 6-8 cannons which fired through firing holes.
Today, from this fortified structure are kept only a few fortified doors: the Florentine towers, janissaries, square and Stambol. They have arched passages in the walls for the guards. Swing gates are closed with oak beams, covered with iron. Along the trench were the wooden bridges, one of which was mobile. At the Danube were built 5-door: Aralak, Top, Saray, Telegraf and Sürgün. Through the Telegraph Kapiya there is a well-preserved fortified wall. Nowadays there, before of Stambol Kapiya there was a fountain – the interesting thing is that the boy figure on the fountain became the object of theft, twice in the last twenty years.