Little Šibenik Fortress Once Controlled Traffic Between Central Dalmatia and Bosnia

Dr. Ivo Glavaš gives us a look into the relatively unknown past of one little Dalmatian fortress.

As SibenikIN writes on the 2nd of June, 2018, it’s almost one entire year since Šibenik’s Fortress of St. Nicholas (Sveti Nikola) found itself as part of UNESCO’s prestigious List of Protected World Heritage, making this a great occasion to learn more about the history of these incredible structures. Ivo Glavaš has revealed some details of the unknown past of one of them to SibenikIN.

What was once defended by thousands of Roman soldiers many years ago, located in the legion’s camp of Tilurija (today’s Gardun above Trilje), lies Čačvina fortress, timelessly standing through thick and thin, and outliving the various empires and rulers the area has seen since the as far back as the Middle Ages.

Today, it is difficult to imagine that in the past, this small, unassuming fortress controlled all the traffic going between Central Dalmatia and Bosnia. Built at a strategic location at an altitude of 706 feet, six miles east of Trilje, it controlled the most important and shortest route from which you could arrive to central Bosnia from medieval Split. In fact, Čačvina is located along what was once one of the most important Roman roads that came from the ancient Salona, through today’s Buško blato and Kupres, to today’s Sarajevo field (Sarajevsko polje). Right below Čačvina, one corner of the ancient Roman road described still stands. Today, in that very same direction, but of course on a modern road, this route still remains the fastest easiest way to reach the City of Sarajevo from Dalmatia.

The fortress of Čačvina was fully adapted to the rugged, elongated cliff on which it was originally built, and consisted only of two towers and a defensive rampart which once linked them together. The larger, eastern tower is rounded from the outside, whereas inside, it has a hexagonal floor plan. The smaller, western tower, is entirely round. The inside of the fortress, between the towers, is only a few meters wide, meaning that the total size of Čačvina was less than seventy metres in length.

Although the first known mention of Čačvina took place way back in the year 1371, it’s likely that there was some form of tower in the same place as far back as the late 5th or 6th century. The best-known medieval masters of Čačvina were the Croatian noblemen Nelipići, and as the family remained without male descendants during the 15th century, Čačvina changed several owners following their reign over it. The Ottomans conquered Čačvina in 1513 and it remained in Turkish hands, with only a few short-lived interruptions, for more than two hundred years, until 1718 when the Venetians arrived and took over.

Long-term Ottoman rule left its noticable traces on Čačvina, as the very place on which the fortress was built on the map takes on the name of ”fortress” in Turkish language.

In stark contrast to the way in which the Ottomans viewed it, Čačvina wasn’t viewed by the Venetian rulers as a significant fortress, and it soon began to collapse from lack of care. Rescue from total collapse came mostly at the hands of the local population who founded the ”Čačvina Fortress” association back in 1992, after which they started cleaning, caring for, exploring and restoring the ancient fortress.

If you ever get the chance to pay a visit to the silent, stone guardsman of Čačvina, an unforgettable view awaits you. In the distance, you can see Sinjsko polje, the largest karst field in Dalmatia, and behind it lies the Kamešnica mountain, otherwise the natural border between Croatia and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Click here for the original article by dr.sc. Ivo Glavaš for SibenikIN

 

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