The article reveals the main approaches to the solution of pre-gate drawbridges of defensive structures of the period of the 16th - 19th centuries; explains the mechanisms of their functioning; demonstrates examples of their implementation, which are recorded in historical sources and preserved monuments; analyzes the state of preservation and the possibilities of obtaining information about the existence of drawbridges at the entrance junctions of defensive structures in the western regions of Ukraine.
Recommendations of 17th-century theorists on the construction of drawbridges, examples of their description in historical inventories, and images in iconographic sources are presented. Examples of information about the presence of drawbridges in the middle of stationary bridges, in front of the gate and in front of the gate in the defensive structures in the western regions of Ukraine are given.
The two main most common ways of arranging a drawbridge in terms of its impact on the architectural solution of the gate facade are described and illustrated with examples. Theorists considered the first method of solving a drawbridge with protruding booms-beams above the bridge simpler, but vulnerable to artillery, so the second method of a drawbridge, without an upper structure with booms-beams and a counterweight, became widespread during the period of the bastion system in various forms of mechanisms that activated the bridge's lifting and was relevant during the nineteenth century.
We propose to use the results of this study for graphic reconstruction and visualization of defensive structures of the 16th - 19th centuries in order to increase the reliability of future reconstructions of monuments and create virtual three-dimensional visualizations.
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