Niš Fortress
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The Niš Fortress, situated in Niš, Serbia, dating from the first decades of the 18th century (1719-1723). It is one of the most significant and best preserved fortification of this kind in the Mid-Balkans.
[edit] History
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The fortress was erected on the site of earlier fortifications - the ancient Roman, Byzantine, and later Mediaeval forts.
In 1737, Niš was seized by the Austrian army, in their campaign against the Turks. The war ended in 1739.
[edit] Features
The Fortress has a polygonal ground plan, eight bastion terraces and four massive gates. It stretches over 22 ha of land. The rampart walls are 2,100 m long, 8 m high and 3 m thick on the average. The building stone, brought from the nearby quarries, was hewn into rather evenly-shaped blocks. The inside of the rampart wall was additionally fortified by a wooden construction, 'santrač', and an additional bulwark, 'trpanac'. On the outside, the Fortress was surrounded by a wide moat, whose northern part has been preserved to our days.
Beside the massive stone rampart walls, the southern Stambol gate and the western Belgrade gate are pretty well preserved. Partly preserved are the water gates, while the northern Vidin gate and the south-east Jagodina gate are preserved only in remains.
