It is the entrance gate to hell in the 13th-14th century Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s epic poem “Shinto music and dancing” (Hell, Song 3). It is well known for its inscription, “He who passes through this gate must give up all hope,” which is also used to express deep despair.
- Gates of Hell - Wikipedia
- Rodin’s “thinker” sits on top of this Gates of Hell.
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/この門をくぐる者は一切の希望を捨てよ using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.