Belgrade Fortress
| Belgrade Fortress | ||
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| Conservation status: | Well preserved | |
| Place: | Belgrade | |
| Geographical location | 44 ° 49 '25 " N , 20 ° 27' 1.8" E | |
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The Belgrade Fortress forms the historical core of the Serbian capital Belgrade and its basic structure dates from the beginning of the 15th century, but was expanded with more modern bastions in particular at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century .
The centrally located fortress of Belgrade was bitterly fought over during the military confrontation for supremacy in Eastern Central Europe between the great powers of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire in the Turkish Wars and was briefly held by Austria in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the course of the first Serbian uprising against the Turks, the Serbs conquered the fortress in 1807, which, however, retained an Ottoman commander until 1867.
Strategically located on a 50 meter high limestone spur above the river delta of the Save into the Danube , the fortress is the symbol of the city. In addition to ramparts, bastions, towers and gates, the numerous monuments as well as two churches and the Military History Museum of Serbia are tourist attractions in the complex.
In the former apron of the fortress, the Big and Small Kalemegdan are set up as spacious parks as well as the Belgrade Zoo.
location
The fortress lies above the confluence of the Save and Danube and is divided into the upper town or upper castle on the limestone plateau and the lower town or lower castle on the alluvial plain . From the terrace of the upper town there is a broad view of the Sava and Danube rivers, of the Great War Island ( Veliko ratno ostrvo ) in the estuary area and of the Belgrade districts of Zemun and Novi Beograd . The flat, uniform lowlands of the Pannonian Plain extend to the north . The Šumadija low mountain ranges stretch south from the fortress . Upper and lower town are connected by a single gate.
In the medieval heyday at the beginning of the 15th century, the residential complex of the despot Stefan Lazarević was located in the upper town . The lower town accommodated the residential town, the religious institutions with the Franciscan monastery and the Orthodox city cathedral, the Belgrade Mitropolija. A Danube port existed since the beginning of the 15th century, a Sava port already under King Stefan Uroš II Milutin , who had the Savvorstadt built.
description
Cosmographia by Sebastian Münster from 1545. It shows the siege of Belgrade ( Kriechisch W (e) ysseburg ) in 1456.
The fortress consists of two parts: the upper town, which occupies the plateau of the former Roman castrum , the Byzantine fort and the city of the despot , and the lower town. The late antique medieval core of the upper town was strengthened by bastions in the Baroque in the south and east . The lower town is divided into the western part of the city, built in the 13th and 14th centuries under King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, the suburb of the despot from the beginning of the 15th century on the river bank and the artillery bastions in the east.
The once tower-rich upper town changed its appearance, especially in the 17th to 18th centuries, when the towers designed for edged weapons became obsolete and more and more bastions were built for artillery. The former castle of the despot in the upper town was destroyed when Belgrade was conquered in 1688 .
Strategic importance of the fortress
The fortress of Belgrade and with it the city of Belgrade have always had a special strategic position on the Balkan Peninsula. Located on the border of the Pannonian Plain and the south-east European mountain peninsula, the fortress stands at the crossroads of the most important road connections that have linked the city with Constantinople (now Istanbul) and Thessaloniki since ancient times . The Via Militaris , the Via Egnatia and their historical subsequent streets all began in Belgrade. In addition to the road connections, the Sava and Danube rivers, the most important river in Europe, also meet at the fortress.
The local relief also favored the construction of the fortress on a wide plateau on the ridge of the Šumadija, which is only connected to the lowlands by a steep slope.
This strategic location meant, among other things, that three crusades (1096, 1147 and 1189) led through Belgrade and the city was exposed to constant conquests in its eventful history.
history
Due to the favorable strategic location, the hilltop was already in the 3rd century BC. Chr. Of Celtic or Thraco -keltischen strains, the Scordisci attached. The Romans who ruled the city in the 1st century BC They called the settlement Singidunum , which probably means round fortress or round city in the Celtic language. In AD 86 the Legio IV. Flavia Felix was relocated to Singidunum. After the destruction of this military camp by the Goths and Huns , the settlement fell to the Byzantine Empire , which secured the Danube Limes with the Restauratio imperii operated by Justinian I. The city of Singidunum was renewed in the form of a significantly reduced, but with strong walls fortified Byzantine castron within the abandoned legionary camp (Castra) . During the conquest of the Slavs in the Balkans around 625, the Kastron had to be abandoned. After an eventful history from the 9th to the 12th centuries, the fort was renovated by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I around 1153. Manuel checked the work on the fortress several times personally. During this time, the name Greek Weißenburg came up because of the white building material used for today's Belgrade in Western Europe.
Stefan Lazarević (approx. 1377–1427), the Serbian despot, had Belgrade, the new center of his empire, strengthened by massive buildings in the Upper and Lower City. The despot's castle was built within the old fort and the naval port was expanded on the banks of the Sava. Belgrade was later returned to the Hungarian Empire . The Hungarians under King Sigismund were able to hold the fortress against the Ottomans , who had conquered most of Serbia by the beginning of the second half of the 15th century. For the Ottomans, Belgrade represented a major obstacle on the way to Central Europe , which they therefore endeavored to conquer. They attacked the city on July 4, 1456 and besieged it ( Siege of Belgrade (1456) ), but were unable to take it. After another 65 years, however, the conquest succeeded under the leadership of Suleyman I on August 28, 1521. In the 16th century Belgrade became an important base of the Ottomans for their campaigns against the west and flourished as a trading center. The rulers left the fortress untouched. It was not until the Austrian occupation from 1717–1739 that it was expanded into one of the strongest military fortifications in Europe.
Monuments
architecture
Most of the preserved walls, towers and gates are in the upper town. The oldest and best-preserved medieval gate in the upper town is the Despot's Gate (around 1405) and the double-towered Zindan Gate (1460). The Despot's Gate is flanked by the Castellan Tower, which has served as an observatory since the 20th century .
In front of the Zindan Gate is a bastion with the baroque gate of Leopold I from 1688–1690. It is one of the oldest Austrian structures in the fortress. The monogram LP (Leopoldus Primus) is engraved above the entrance . The baroque 27.5 meter high clock tower Sahat Kula (first half of the 18th century) and the Sahat gate also go back to the Austrians . The double gate of the stambol kapija (gate to Istanbul) consists of the inner and outer stambol gate and was the main gate of the city. Here hung the flag of the Ottoman Empire, which was only removed in 1876 after the Serbian-Ottoman War as the last symbol of the end of vassal status.
At the entrance to Kalemegdan is the gate through which Karađorđe entered the fortress of Belgrade during the first Serbian uprising in 1807, which is why the gate was named after him (Karadjorde Gate). In the park area of the upper town stands the Türbe by Damad Ali Pasha, one of the best preserved oriental monuments in Belgrade. The Türbe in honor of the Grand Vizier was erected in 1784 over the grave of Muhafiz (fortress commander) Ismet Mehmed Pasha. The fortress commanders Selim Pascha (1847) and Hasan Pascha (1850) are buried here.
Next to the King's Gate, which was built at the end of the 17th century and can be reached via a bridge, there is the 51-meter-deep Roman Fountain from 1717–1731. The Defterdar Gate enables the connection between upper and lower town and got its current appearance in the 18th century. At Defterdar Gate is the fountain of Mehmed-paša Sokolović (1567). According to Evliya Çelebi, it had the following inscription: “Come closer to Bey, if you wish to drink from heavenly wealth.” During the Austrian reconstruction of the Belgrade fortress in 1717–1739 the well was buried and only dug up again in 1938.
In the lower town are the monuments of the former prison Nebojša tower (1460), the gate of Charles VI. (1736), the Turkish Vidin Gate and the Ottoman Hamam from the 18th century. The Jakšić Tower was built between the 11th and 15th centuries and, after being rebuilt several times, received its current appearance in 1937.
Two smaller religious buildings, the Rose Church and the Church of St. Petka are also preserved in the lower town. The former Orthodox Metropolitan Church and a Franciscan monastery were destroyed with the Ottoman conquest in 1521 and the main mosque in the Upper Town with the Austrian conquest in 1718, and some of its foundation walls were archaeologically preserved.
Monuments
Inside the fortress and the Kalemegdan there are numerous mostly bronze statues and monuments. The best known is the monument of a naked warrior, the pobednik (victor) by Ivan Meštrović , standing on a terrace in the upper town . The pobednik was erected in honor of the victory against the Turks in the Balkan Wars . In addition to the pobednik, the monument Merci à la France (thanks to France) from 1930 by Meštrović comes from. The large sculpture of a naked woman with a sword, who metaphorically comes to the aid of Serbia, commemorates the alliance between France and Serbia during the First World War . The fountain Kampf (Borba) in the Great Kalemegdan was designed by Toma Rosandić .
Museums
The Military History Museum has existed since 1878 and has been in the Upper Town since 1904. The current building was built in 1923/1924. In addition to the military history of the region from antiquity to the Kosovo war, numerous modern military equipment of the Wehrmacht , Red Army and the NATO Alliance are on display. In the open spaces around the museum, however, there are also medieval monumental Steći from Herzegovina decorated with knights and war scenes .
gallery
Walls of the Belgrade Fortress
Walls of the Belgrade Fortress
King's Gate
the despot's gate
the Defterdar Gate
the Defterdar Gate
Clock tower Sahat kula
the Military History Museum
the gate of Charles VI.
Clock tower Sahat kula
Monument to Kosta Taušanović
the Rose Church
See also
literature
- Very recent demolition of the Belgrade fortress , Hamburg 1717 ( digital copy )
- Hans-Joachim Böttcher : The Turkish Wars in the Mirror of Saxon Biographies, Gabriele Schäfer Verlag Herne 2019, ISBN 978-3-944487-63-2 , pp. 145–157 (The First Conquest of Belgrade 1688).
Web links
- Article about the Belgrade Fortress on the website of the City of Belgrade (German)
- Photos on the Belgrade website
- Medieval Belgrade - belgrade-xv.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Османско-мађарски ратови: Опсада Београда 1456, Том Р. Ковач (- {Historynet.com} -) ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
