Novo Brdo Fortress

Novo Brdo Fortress (Albanian: Kalaja e Novobërdës, Kalaja e Artanës; Serbian: Тврђава Ново Брдо, Tvrđava Novo Brdo) is a medieval Serbian fortress in Kosovo. Its ruins are located near the town of Novo Brdo, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Pristina. The fortress was built in the late 13th century by king Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia to protect gold, silver, iron and lead mines which were abundant throughout the area. Novo Brdo was famous for its silver. Together with the castles of Prizren, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the southwest, and Prilepac, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the southeast, which guard access roads to the fortress, Novo Brdo helped form a defensive complex overlooking the lucrative mining operations.

Novo Brdo was at its height during the Serbian Despotate (1402–1459), when it was the most important mining area and second most important town in Serbia. A significant number of Saxon miners, Albanian Catholics and a large Ragusan merchant colony lived within the town, which was ruled by a vojvoda, but also a governor (kefalija), because it was the seat of an administrative unit of the Despotate.

Systematic archaeological research of the site began in 1952. In 1948, during the Yugoslav era, the fortress of Novo Brdo was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance. When Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 it was temporarily designated as a special protective site and since 2014 is on the database of protected cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo.

Text adapted from “Novo Brdo Fortress” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Novo Brdo Fortress ranks #2,648 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #3 of the 11 mapped in Kosovo. Founded 1285, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,000 times in the last 60 days, more than 67% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Skopje, 69 km away. See how Kosovo compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗