From the Third to the Second courtyard you go down the Equestrian Staircase. Its current low steps follow the original location of the access road that led along the travertine cliff to the main entrance to the medieval castle. In order to commemorate the old entrance with the castle gate, John Pálffy had a new portal with a drawbridge mechanism and a grille (“portcullis”) placed here at the end of the 19^th century.