Niš Fortress

Niš Fortress - a fortress in Serbia , located in the city of Niš .

Fortress
Niš Fortress
Nishka tvrђava
Fortress gate
A country	Serbia
Location	Niš
Founder	Ottoman Empire
Building	1719 - 1723 years
Material
Site	niskatvrdjava.com

The first fortifications in Niš were built by the Romans in the form of a castrum . In the middle of the II century AD Castrum was rebuilt into a stone fortress. In the middle of the 6th century, the fortress was renewed; it played an important role in the defense of the possessions of Byzantium from the raids of the Slavs . In 615, the Slavs captured the fortress and settled the city. During the XI - XIII centuries. the city passed from hand to hand: it was owned by the Byzantines, the Serbs, the Bulgarians. In the middle of the XIV century, Niš became part of the Serbian kingdom . The fortress was strengthened by Prince Lazar Khrebeljanovic . In 1386 the Turks seized it for the first time. At the beginning of the 15th century, it was returned to the Serbs for some time, but in 1428 the Ottoman army again captured the fortress.

The Ottoman garrison was not engaged in the restoration of medieval fortifications, and only in 1690 , when the city was briefly occupied by the Austrians, two bastions were built in the fortress. At the very end of the XVII century, the Turks strengthened the walls in several places. In 1718, the Turkish garrison built the fortress of Hisar on the remnants of ancient and medieval fortifications, and in 1719-1723. rebuilt it according to the type of artillery fortifications, in the form of which it has survived to the present. After the city was returned to Serbia in 1878, the Serb garrison occupied the fortress. The army was located in it until 1950 , after which the fortress was turned into a historical monument and attracted the attention of tourists.

The fortress contains remains of buildings from the period of ancient Rome and Byzantium, medieval buildings and numerous buildings built during the Ottoman period.