Kruševac Fortress

Kruševac Fortress City of Prince Lazar
Крушевачки град Лазарев Град Град цара Лазара
Kruševac, Šumadija and Western Serbia Region, Serbia
Donjon tower
Kruševac Fortress City of Prince Lazar
Coordinates	43°35′04″N 21°19′19″E
Type	Fortification
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Built	1381
Built by	Lazar Hrebeljanović
Materials	Stone

Kruševac Fortress or City of Prince Lazar (Serbian: Крушевачки град, Kruševački grad) was a medieval fortified town in Kruševac, Serbia, former capital of Prince Lazar. Within the city there is the court church Lazarica. Today, all that remains of the town are small ruins.

History

Fortress of Kruševac was first mentioned in 1381, so it was most likely built by Prince Lazar, becoming the seat of his realm – Moravian Serbia, from which he ruled his country as attested by signature and record in a charter issued in 1387 which states In the famous city of my dominion Kruševac (у славноме граду господства ми Крушевцу).

Lazar's son and successor Stefan Lazarević managed the despotate from Kruševac until 1405, when the capital was moved to Belgrade, which he began renewing and refortifying in that year. Kruševac never lost its strategic importance, however. It was the meeting place of despot Stefan and Sultan Mehmed I in 1413.

Struggle over control of the city have ceased during the entire first half of 15th century. It was occupied by the Turks briefly in 1413 and in 1427. In 1437 Hungarians occupied the fort. After signing the agreement on the restoration of the Despotate, Đurađ Branković regains Kruševac in 1444. In 1454, the Ottomans launch an offensive with the goal of subduing entire Serbia. In the beginning of the offensive, the Ottomans suffered enormous losses, especially in the Battle of Kruševac. The massive casualties inflicted to the Ottomans rendered Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror to personally reinforce his offensive with his entire Rumelian army. The city finally fell under the Ottoman rule along with the rest of the Despotate later in 1454.

Under the Ottoman rule, Kruševac was renamed to Aladža Hisar, Turkish for Colorful City, because of the diversity of materials from which the fortress was built. The Lazarica, which was built by Prince Lazar, was vandalized by the Ottomans, and was used as a gunpowder storage.

Archaeological site

The best-preserved part of the former Prince Lazars capital of the palace church of St. Stephen, Lazarica. In addition, it is very little left of the Hard town of Kruševac, as it is called by Constantine of Kostenets. Today, the survival remains are Donjon Tower, through which you entered the city and part of Eastern wall. Inside the walls of the towers today are still a hallway with staircase, through which arrived on the higher levels and exited on the city walls. One of the curiosities of this particular tower was plastered with pebbles, which is rare and probably one of the reasons for the Turks to give the name of the whole fortress Colorful City. The area of the former fortress was turned into a park where there is now a museum. The park is almost entirely neglected, except around the church. Walls and the remains of other buildings are very poorly preserved, unmarked and in no way are protected from vandals. Part of the walls in the last century was torn down to build houses whose construction probably used stone from the fortress.

But, later, Kruševac Fortress was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is now protected by the Republic of Serbia.

See also

• Monuments of Culture of Exceptional Importance
• Tourism in Serbia
• Prince Lazar
• Lazarica

Sources

• Monuments of Culture in Serbia: "ЦРКВА СВ.СТЕФАНА ЛАЗАРИЦА СА КРУШЕВАЧКИМ ГРАДОМ" (SANU) (in Serbian and English)
• Републички завод за заштиту споменика културе – Београд. "Црква Св. Стефана Лазарица са Крушевачким градом". БАЗА НЕПОКРЕТНИХ КУЛТУРНИХ ДОБАРА. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Association of fortresses and remnants of fortified towns in Serbia, Kruševac
• Church of St. Stefan Lazarica with Kruševac Fortress SANU web-site, at www.spomenicikulture.mi.sanu.ac.rs (in Serbian)