The Fortress

Turks

Those were dark times. Turkish conquests have reached its peak under the leadership of Suleiman The Magnificent. Europe was in constant fear of the merciless hordes that invaded villages and towns seeking payment in blood. Most of the Balkans were occupied and pillaged. Croatian General Nikola Šubić Zrinski was killed with most of the crew of the Hungarian town of Siget, and the walls of Vienna have already tasted the blows of Turkish cannons.

The Ottoman Empire was vast and rich, and the tide from the Bosphorus seemed unstoppable. Yet, defeat by Vienna and Sisak, the great losses at Siget and the death of Sulejman himself have slowed down her advancement. The Austrian army was modern and disciplined, and the Turks supply lines were a little too stretched.

Karlovac from the air. From the center of picture up and to the right you can see star – shaped fortress. To the right of it is confluence of rivers Korana and Kupa and at the bottom of Mrežnica and Korana. Photo: www.kaportal.rtl.hr

In such a constellation of things, Austrian and German nobles have decided to stop the Ottoman invasion forever with one decisive move. This move was drawn in March 1578 in the Austrian town of Bruck on Mura, where a decision was made to build a modern fort in Croatia on which walls the tide Bosphorus would be broken.

The perfect city

As early as December of that same year, it was decided that the fortified city would be built on the confluence of Kupa and Korana. Planning and collection of funds required more than half a year and finally on July 13, 1579, thousands of workers with the associated soldiers who would defend them and the associated construction commission and the main builder Matija Gambon came to the wetland between the two rivers.

Panorama of the oldest part of Karlovac. Photo: www.kaportal.rtl.hr

The Austrian emperor Charles II of Habsburg, the ruler of this area, has named the city by himself, the Carl’s City, in german Carlstadt or in croatian, Karlovac.
The city is designed to be built according to all the most modern defense standards of that time. His floor plan was in the shape of a six-star star with the streets intersecting at right angles to ensure delivering of weapons and ammo to the ramparts as efficiently as possible. In the center of the star there is a central square. Such star shape have only two cities in Europe, Palmanova in Italy and Novy Zamky in Slovakia.
This was the time of the Renaissance which is considered to be one of the most fertile periods of human history when, after the Dark Middle Ages, science, art and human progress come first, and these cities are considered perfect renaissance cities.

Invincible

One year before the start of Karlovac construction, the Turks attacked the older castle Dubovac on the river Kupa, which was located on a hill near the site where a construction project will begin next year and whose construction dates back to the 14th century. Turks already besieged many times Dubovac, and in 1578 they burned the surrounding village on  Great Friday.

Dubovac castle, National Sanctuary of St. Joseph protector of Republic of Croatia (in the middle) and church of Holy Mother of God. Photo: www.kafotka.net

However, this time they encounter no one else but the Commander of this Military Regon, the 77 year old and experienced John Ferenberg, who was very eager to get revenge on them for burning down the village. Ferenberg has defeated the Turks and won a total of 900 Turkish heads as a trophy. Historian Radoslav Lopašić cites in his book “Karlovac – the history of the city and its surroundings” that these 900 heads were built in the foundations of Karlovac to make the fort especially strong and indestructible.

Because of his determination and skill, Ferenberg was appointed as the first commander of Karlovac.

After laying the foundations (and heads), during August and September 1579 the fortress began to take shape as a star and all ground work was finished in November. First armament, 89 heavy rifles and 200 large and 300 small rampart rifles came from Ljubljana, and within the walls construction of buildings for the inhabitants and crew was started. Much of Dubovac’s population began to settle in a much safer Karlovac.

All these pictures are taken from www.kafotka.net. Visit to see many more of them.

The modern fort had a 6 meter deep moat with stone walls filled with water from the rivers Korana or Kupa, if needed. Above the moat were earthy ramparts. The engineers had already figured that the ground much better resisted the cannonfire from which the Turks were very well known.

On each of the six points of stars there was a bastion with cannons. Each bastion covered the area in front of that beside him, and were mutually connected to each other in order to move arms and army more efficiently depending on the direction of the enemy’s attack.

On that defence, Turks charged for the first time in 1592 and were, of course, defeated. Much like the next eight times. Last time they tried in 1672 and after that they finally learned their lesson and left the invincible fort in peace.

Theather Zorin dom (The Home of Dawn). Dawn was the name of the first Croatian female singing company. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Suradnik13

In recent history, once more the rivers of Karlovac have played their roles as protectors of their city, but this is the material for another story.

Panorama of Karlovac main square with Church of Holy Trinity, monument to plague in front of it and well in the middle.

From left to right: Church of Holy Trinity, monument to Madonna Protector from Plague, well, orthodox church of St. Nicholas, city museum (oldest building in town)

City of parks

Karlovac is one of the few towns whose birth date is exactly known. Today it is a modern, industrial city that is increasingly exploiting its tourist potential. It is also referred to as the city of parks because of many green areas inside it.

Moat transformed into park. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, 1raccoon11

The only preserved part of bastion and retaining wall and view to fortress from the other side of the moat

This is the most accurate 3D representation of Karlovac fort based on original austrian blueprints. Thanks to the author and fellow citizen Neven Cetinjanin. Visit his pages: https://www.facebook.com/Nevenius/?timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=1137278920 and https://www.facebook.com/NeveniusvonDubowatz

Background picture: Wikimedia Commons, Bearcro