The New Gate Street, which you enter from the gate, was recently renovated by the Jerusalem Development Authority. In a short and enjoyable walk along it, you can see the "College de Freire" school of the French Brotherhood, a wide variety of businesses and shops, including a workshop and a shop for Armenian ceramics, Cafes, and bars.
The new gate has also become the new entertainment complex in Jerusalem, where lectures, street performances, and other activities will occur. All details are updated on the website - https://www.thenewgate.co.il/
About the history of the New Gate
The Franciscan complex is to the east of the gate (inside the Old City). In its center, you can find the Church of San Salvatore (Holy Savior), which has a prominent clock tower. The Franciscan order was founded in the 13th century by Francis of Assisi, who preached simplicity, poverty, and charity.
Thanks to their persistent presence in the land after the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem fell, the Franciscans in the 14th century were appointed by the Pope to be the "guard of the Holy Land", Custodia Terra Sancta, to safeguard Catholic interests in the East. The order adopted as its symbol the "Cross of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem," - which you can see on the entrance gate to the compound (which is inside the old city on the left side, immediately after you enter through the gate): a large cross and four small crosses. Inside the complex are the offices of the Custodian: a school, a library, and other institutions of the Franciscan order. On the right (inside the old city) is a Catholic school for boys, 'The School of the Brothers (Collège de Freire)'.
Outside the old city wall, in front of the gate, important Christian institutions, built in the second half of the 19th century: to the east, the Notre-Dame de Jerusalem Hostel, built at the end of the 19th century, and to the west the Saint-Louis Hospital, Both built on the initiative of French-Catholic bodies. To the north of them, the 'Russian Field', on which the 'Israeli Prabvslavic Imperial Society’ built religious and charitable buildings for the benefit of Russian pilgrims.
These Christian institutions were the reason the new gate was breached, to make it easier for the people of the monasteries and churches when they came from outside the city to the sites of the Christian quarter, headed by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
