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In later days, when taste had altered, the scene of the Crucifixion was painted within one of the lateral archways, while the Scene of the Final Judgment was represented in the other.^[233] Traces of frescoes are visible on the inner walls of the southern archway, and suggest the possibility of its having been used as a chapel.

The whole aspect of the gateway must have been more imposing when the parapet on the towers and on the wall over the arches was intact, and gave the building its full elevation.

Two columns crowned with graceful capitals adorned the outer gateway, while the wall north and south was decorated with twelve bas-reliefs, executed with considerable skill, and representing classical subjects. Remains of the marble cornices and of the pilasters which framed the bas-reliefs are still found in the wall, and from the descriptions of the slabs given by Manuel Chrysolaras, Gyllius, Sir Thomas Roe, and others, a fair idea of the nature of the subjects treated can be formed.^[234] Six bas-reliefs were placed on either side of the entrance, grouped in triplets, one above another, each panel being supported by pilasters, round or rectangular.