Kalemegdan Fortress

(Curiosities)

Address: Stari Grad

Information

The Kalemegdan Fortress

At the confluence of the Sava and the Danube the Kalemegdan Fortress was constructed by the Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarevic in the XIV century and later on reconstructed by Austrians since 1717 on under the Vauban conceptions. From 1739 to 1830 Turks established here their most advanced point in Balkans and had the control of movements of Austrian troops.

A certain number of Ottoman monuments remained from that epoch. They are located in the upper part of the fortress. The fountain of Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic has been built in 1576 by that vizier well known by his Serbian origin. He had been taken as janissary when he was eight. The mausoleum, turb of Damad Ali Pasha should also be visited, a vizier killed in Petrovaradin in 1716 or the Turkish bath constructed in 1870. The Fortress is also interesting for its various medieval towers and gates, the most ancient being the square Tower of Despot used in the XIV century as the main entrance to the fortress. But to come to the Military Museum from Terazije you will pass a series of gates as the Istanbul Gate constructed in 1750 or the Karadjordje Gate built in 1806. The most interesting is the Tower of Nebojsa. Constructed in 1460 and being in use in the middle ages as a point between the ancient port at the Sava bank and the higher part of the town. In the XVIII century it had been transformed into Donjon. In 1789 Greek revolutionists were tortured and executed there.

In the downtown are several ruins since the medieval era,-the fragments of ramparts and of churches. The church of St. Paraskeva is leaning on a rampart and is honouring the Greek Saint. The little church Ruzica is more recent (1867), but it is well known to all Belgrade students who want to visit it before the examination. Just nearby there is the charnel house of the heroes from 1914-1915 when the town had been defended by its population.