The Iron Gates are two colossal locks of the Danube River, which spread more than 80 kilometers apart. Two Locks, two Gates, a massive iron infrastructure to tame the river rapids and facilitate navigation. The “Iron Gates” term was first introduced by The Times newspaper back in 1853. Geographically it refers to a much larger area, which stretches over 83 miles, but most people refer only to the area of the Four Big Gorges and three wide basins formed among or just to the two locks.