ZVEČAN FORTRESS

Set at 740 m above sea level, on top of an extinct volcano, this fortress (Звечански град/Zvečanski grad, Kalaja e Zveçanit) has watched over the Ibar valley for centuries. Except for a Serbian flag sometimes flying at the top and a rough access road, it has seen very little recent development. This is what gives it its charm and also its historical value. Although it is in ruins, its imposing remains bear witness to its rich past. A succession of two defensive walls with ashlar towers are still clearly visible. They contain the ruins of several buildings whose functions are not well known, with the exception of a church that was dedicated to Saint George. The visit is especially worthwhile for the 360-degree view of the area: Mitrovica to the south, the Ibar and the smokestacks of the Trepča foundry to the east and the Metochia plain to the west. The hill was probably fortified as early as prehistoric times. First mentioned in the 10th century, it was then a stronghold of the Bulgarian emperor Simeon I (893-927). In the 980s, it passed into the hands of the Serbian princes of Rascia (southern part of present-day Serbia), who made it a border post.

Conquest and parricide. The fortress plays both a military and a commercial role: it controls the mines of Trepča, but also the road connecting Dalmatia and Rascia to the lands further south held by the Bulgars and Byzantines. In 1093, it served as the starting point for the Serbian conquest of present-day Kosovo by Grand Prince Vukan Vukanović (c. 1050-1115). It then passed into the hands of his cousins, the Nemanjić. The great Serbian dynasty made Zvečan one of its royal palaces where the itinerant court stayed. During Stefan Dušan's revolt, he imprisons his father King Stefan Dečanski, founder of the Dečani Monastery, here, and then strangles him - or has him strangled - on 11 November 1331 to ascend the throne. After the end of the Nemanjić (1371), the fortress was controlled by Vuk Branković, one of the few great Serbian lords who survived the Battle of Kosovo Polje (1389). From 1455, it was controlled by the Ottomans, who attached it to their vilayet of Bosnia until 1877: the surrounding area was populated by Turkish settlers from Anatolia, but the stronghold retained its commercial role by continuing to host Catholic merchants from Ragusa. Occupied by a garrison until the 18th century, Zvečan then fell into disuse and has only been excavated since 1957.