User:Bbik/Golubac

Golubac Fortress

• Galamboc - Pictures of Golubac fortress, labels and links are in Hungarian
• Galamboc (in Hungarian) - Might be a repeat of already sourced info.
• .txt-Transcribed Russian? About halfway through, starts at Zdorov'e. Is it even related?
• Wayback dejan

• "Kočina krajina" means "Koča's krajina" and refers to a short-lived free territory held by Serbs during the Austro-Turkish war (1788 - 1791). Koča Anđelković (Kapetan Koča Anđelković aka "Captain Koča") was the leader of the uprising.

Golubac

This page is about the municipality. For the mountain, see Golubac (mountain).

Golubac Голубац
village
Location of the municipality of Golubac within Serbia
Coordinates: 44°39′N 21°38′E
Country	Serbia
District	Braničevo
Settlements	24
Government
• Mayor	Zoran Pajkić (DS)
Area
• Municipality	368 km2 (142 sq mi)
Population  (2011 census)
• Town	1,896
• Municipality	9,913
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code	+381 12
Car plates	PO

Golubac (Serbian Cyrillic: Голубац, Hungarian: Galambóc), sometimes spelled Golumbácz, is a village and municipality in north-eastern Serbia, bordering Romania on the right side of the Danube river. It is bound by Veliko Gradište to the west and Kučevo to the south. The population of the village is 1,896, and population of the municipality is 9,913.

Name

The name Golubac is derived from golub, which is Serbian for "pigeon" or "dove", and is therefore often translated as "the town of doves".

There is a legend connected to the naming of the town, that may sound like a dark fairy-tale. A young daughter of a noble family lived in the fortress and was to be married to a rich merchant who she did not love. Instead, she was in love with a young and handsome, but poor, fisherman. She was so sad about her fate that one day she confided in an old woman passing by. The old woman turned out to be a witch. The witch told the young woman that she could be with her fisherman as early as tonight by turning into a dove and running away to the other side of the river. The witch gave the young woman a potion that would turn her into a dove.

That night, the young woman drank the potion, turned into a dove and flew out of the fortress to meet her dear fisherman. The fisherman and the young woman then started crossing to the other side of the Danube. But in the city an alarm was raised when it was discovered that the young lady was missing. The guards found the old witch and she told them that the young woman was running away with the fisherman to the other side of the river. The guards caught up with the young couple halfway across the Danube, near the rock protruding from the riverbed. They killed the fisherman on the spot, and they chained the young woman to the rock for the weather, thirst and famine to finish her off. As the young woman was dying she yelled out repeatedly "Babo, kaj se!" (Grandma, regret your deed!). Hence, the rock - that even today can be seen protruding from the water - is called "Baba-Kajina stena" (Grandma-Kaja's (pronounced Kaya) rock).

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in the Golubac municipality (2002 census):

• Serbs = 8,629
• Vlachs = 870
• Other

Features

Due to many nearby archeological sites and the Đerdap national park, the village is a popular tourist, fishing and sailing destination.

View of Golubac fortress from Danube

The archeological sites include the remnants of Roman Emperor Trajan's tables, his road through the Danube's Iron Gates, and the Roman fortress Diana. Golubac fortress, 4km downstream, is from the 14th century and also of interest. The fortress was a place of a battle against the Turks in 1428, where the most famous Polish knight Zawisza Czarny was captured and murdered by the Turks.

The Iron Gates national park is noted for its natural beauty and its hunting grounds, as well as many trails for more experienced hiking. The village's quay along the Danube river is popular for more relaxed hiking.

See also

• List of places in Serbia

Babakaj

Babakaj is a rock sticking 50m out of the Romanian side of the Danube River, across from Golubac fortress. It has been the subject of many legends attempting to explain either its name, its origination, or the origin of local events. (košava, etc)

(part in Name section of Golubac)

the shorter text says the Babakaj rock is about 50 m high, the longer one basically repeats the story which is already in the article, with slight modifications (the girl is given a name – Milena –, the story is set during the Ottoman occupation, she is not the bride of a rich merchant but a lady in a pasha's harem, but she is killed the same way when she tries to escape with her lover). It doesn't say anything of importance about the fortress itself, it's only a passing mention that the girl's lover is a soldier there.

http://www.bk.ngo.ro/babak88.html

http://kislexikon.hu/babakaj.html

It is the babakaj rock. Tradition tells of the elopement of a young Magyar with a beautiful Turkish woman, once the queen of a harem. Ill-fortune attended the adventure, for the youth was captured, anfter a gallant swim across the Danube, and beheaded. As a reward the maiden was banished to the Babakaj rock, and forced to wear the head of her lover as a neck ornament, and to remind her of the folly of her act. Some say that she was starved to death here by her revengeful husband.

http://books.google.com/books?id=T7kJAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA23-PA293&lpg=RA23-PA293&dq=babakaj&source=web&ots=-w2YiKknse&sig=U76uDGoEl2-disoRE_XSc0oi3I0#PRA23-PA293,M1

Babakaj – many legends:

Most well-known: young hungarian Burgvogt from Coronini (village unnamed in the Ceausescu era), actually lord of St Ladislaus freed girlfriend from turkish imprisonment. But she was the favorite woman in the harem of the golubacian “Pascha”, so he chased/pursued her. When caught, (koepfte –beheaded?) the hungarian and left the girl tied to the babakaj stone. It’s said that even today you can hear her cries when the “Koschawa” (Košava) blows.

Romanian variation: refers to the naming of the rock, the builder threw his evil/bad/mean wife in the danube saying “Baba ca aia, sa nu sa se mai faca!” (A wife so old as you should no longer be!) But suddenly a split rock lifted from the water with the wife sitting in the middle, and ever since the rock’s had the romanian name babacaia (baba ca aia, an old wife like this one).

Serbian version: a serbian voivoide tied his unfaithful wife to the rock and said “Babo kaise!” (Repent, woman!) and left her to her fate. (Waehrend sie qualvoll verendete - During her painful ending), she asked the wind to blow strong so all would know of the deed (undoing?) of her husband. Thus came the Kosava.

http://www.banater-aktualitaet.de/banburg09.htm

Across from the Golubac fortress, the stone Babakaj sticks out from the water, like a guard before the gates of Đerdap. Legend has it the Turks took a beautiful young girl onto this stone and blackmailed her grandmother for one hundred dukats (cash in those days) for her release. The grandmother didn't have the money, so the Turks started to torture the girl. In agony she screamed: ' Granny (baba), repent (pokaj se) '. This is why the stone was later named the Babakaj stone.

http://www.plovput.co.yu/pp_opstipodaci.prirucnik.beograd-kladovo.htm

the shorter text says the Babakaj rock is about 50 m high, the longer one basically repeats the story which is already in the article, with slight modifications (the girl is given a name – Milena –, the story is set during the Ottoman occupation, she is not the bride of a rich merchant but a lady in a pasha's harem, but she is killed the same way when she tries to escape with her lover). It doesn't say anything of importance about the fortress itself, it's only a passing mention that the girl's lover is a soldier there.

http://www.bk.ngo.ro/babak88.html

http://kislexikon.hu/babakaj.html

Babakaj map

http://www.satelliteviews.net/cgi-bin/w.cgi?c=ro&UF=-1151451&UN=-1697670&DG=RK

hill across from golubac (golumba’cz), called babakaj, with tower on top (St Ladislaus fort?)

http://books.google.com/books?id=IlgBAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA292&vq=babakaj#PRA2-PA292,M1

St. Ladislaus Fort

Across from Golubac, in the Hungarian Banat

Both said to be built by sister princesses, one of whom later became Kaiserin Maria Theresia. Supposedly, they only had one mehlsieb (flour sifter?), so strung a rope across the river to pass it back and forth

Used as bunker by Germans during WWII, which is when the majority of the destruction happened, leaving it how it is today – Only an 8m corner of a tower remains, used to be four towers, two outer walls, and a moat, etc

http://www.banater-aktualitaet.de/banburg09.htm

across from golubac, Szentlászló built 1428, 1429-32 handed to teutonic knights then overwhelmed by ottoman

http://www.ashgate.com/subject_area/downloads/sample_chapters/Crusade_of_Varna_Intro.pdf (page 6)