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Rozafa Fortress and the siege
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The Rozafa Fortress was the focal point of the siege, the natural position and architectural reinforcements of which allowed the vastly outnumbered garrison to withstand bombardment and successive ground attacks by the besiegers. The castle (as it is sometimes called) was considered the central leg of a trivet (or tripod) including Zabljak, Drisht, and Lezhë.
Natural position
[edit]The fortress was a natural bastion above Lake Shkodra, three rivers, and the Adriatic Sea; it was esteemed to have been “a kind of Thermopylae where the high mountains narrowed the passage between the lake and the sea.”[1] All faces of the fortress mount were recorded as being as steep "as a knife's edge" except the northern face which sloped more gradually. Ottoman chroniclers reported the difficulties of ascending the fortress mount.
Architectural reinforcements in preparation for siege warfare
[edit]Foreseeing siege warfare, in 1458, Venetian architects Andrea and Francesco Venier and Malchiore da Imola drew plans for the citadel’s reinforcements and a cistern system designed to collect rain water. Venice approved these plans on October 20, 1461.[2] Additionally, the Venetians added a barbican and extra gate to reinforce what they (correctly) forecast to be the main point of conflict.In the failed Turkish siege of 1474, the outer walls were damaged significantly. The citizens rebuilt the walls, but when they sensed that the Ottomans were approaching again with an even stronger attack, they constructed secondary fortifications and redoubts made of wood and earth.
Battle positions in and around the fortress
[edit]The majority of the Ottoman cannons were installed on Pasha's Hill, a hill just opposite the northern face of the fortress and approximately the same altitude as the fortress. The defenders were stationed on all sides but concentrated their resources on the main gate area where the Ottomans focused their attack.