Skopje Fortress

The oldest settlement on the territory of the fortress belongs to the IV millennium BC. er ^[1] . From that time (with short breaks) the territory of the modern fortress was settled ^[1] . In ancient times, the Kale hill was not inhabited, but the sacrificial pit and the coin of Alexander the Great were discovered on its territory ^[2] . There are assumptions about the beginning of the construction of large fortifications in Calais during the reign of Justinian , however, it is only known that Kale turns into the center of Skopje at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries during the reign of Bulgarian Tsar Samuil ^[3] . When it was the city was surrounded by walls, built on advanced technologies ^[3] . At the end of the XI century, the city was held for several years by the Normans , in confirmation of which a specific Viking bow was discovered in the excavation of Kale ^[3] . Under the rule of Byzantium, Kale became the center of crafts of Balkan value ^[3] .

At the end of the XIII century, the city came under the control of Serbia and became one of its centers, and in 1346 the Serbian king Stephen Dusan crowned the king of the Serbs and Greeks, making Kale a strategically important point ^[3] . During this period, four churches were located on the territory of Calais, and the territory of the hill was densely built up ^[3] . During the period of the Serbian government, the fortifications of Calais were completed ^[3] . At the foot of the fortress near the river Vardar was located the Jewish quarter .

After the capture of Skopje by the Turks in 1391, the fortress was used as barracks ^[4] . While Skopje was a frontier fortress, fortifications were reinforced, the south gate was rebuilt, and additional towers were added ^[4] .

The report of the Austrian General Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who took Skopje in 1689, which describes the fortress as having 12 semi-abandoned towers and generally dilapidated and poorly preserved ^{[4], is} preserved. In 1700, the Ottoman authorities began the construction of a new wall with towers and related infrastructure, and the fortress again becomes an important military object ^[4] .

In 1917–1918 the Austro-Hungarian headquarters was located in Calais, later the headquarters, barracks and warehouses of the royal Yugoslav army were built here ^[5] .

The devastating earthquake of 1963 seriously damaged the fortifications, after which centralized work began to restore the fortress.

In February 2011, a group of Albanians from Northern Macedonia , who opposed the construction of a museum in the form of a church in the fortress, destroyed its construction, leading to inter-ethnic clashes ^[6] .