Skopje Fortress
Imagine standing here in Maribor, perhaps looking towards our own Pohorje hills or the castle watching the Drava.
Now, let your thoughts travel south, across lands that have seen empires rise and fall, to Skopje, the heart of North Macedonia. There, dominating the skyline like an ancient crown on the city's highest hill, sits the Skopje Fortress – known to everyone simply as 'Kale', the Turkish word for fortress. It's a place so central to Skopje's identity, it proudly stands on the city's coat of arms and flag, much like symbols hold meaning for our own Slovenian towns.
The story of Kale goes back incredibly far, long before written records were common. People lived on this strategic spot way back in the mists of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, around 4000 BC! The first real fortress walls rose in the 6th century AD, possibly built by the famous Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Picture Roman Skupi nearby, a bustling city tragically flattened by a massive earthquake in 518. Builders salvaged stones from those ruins – yellow limestone, travertine, even fragments with Latin inscriptions – giving the new fortress foundations built, quite literally, on history.
Through the centuries, Kale wasn't just stone; it was power. It witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms. For a time, between 992 and 1015, it was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire. Later, in 1346, imagine the scene: Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan chose this very fortress to declare himself Emperor, making Skopje the centre of his vast Serbian Empire. Think of the echoes those stones must hold – battles, coronations, shifting borders – a turbulent history shared in different ways across many lands in this part of Europe, perhaps even influencing tales told along ancient trade routes that might have connected the Vardar valley to regions closer to our own Alps.
Jump forward to 1660. A keen-eyed Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi, visited Kale and wrote down exactly what he saw. He described a mighty fortress with double walls shining "as if polished," defended by seventy bastions and three great gates. He spoke of guards, decorations of arms, a clever wooden drawbridge over a deep trench, and how the fortress sat untouchable on tall rocks overlooking the whole plain, with the Vardar River flowing below. It paints a picture of imposing Ottoman strength.
Like many old castles, perhaps even some whispered about in Slovenian legends that have faced their own trials, Kale has suffered too. The devastating 1963 Skopje earthquake damaged it significantly. But starting around 2006, archaeologists began carefully uncovering its secrets. They found ancient woodwind instruments and pottery dating back thousands of years, remnants of houses hidden beneath the visible layers, and even unearthed the largest hoard of Byzantine coins ever found in Macedonia! It's like digging directly into the past.
However, history isn't always peaceful. Around 2011, the discovery of foundations from a 13th-century church led to plans for a church museum. This sparked a painful dispute. Ethnic Albanian groups argued the site held older, Illyrian roots, leading to protests and clashes over heritage, identity, and ownership – a stark reminder that the layers of history here are complex and deeply felt, sometimes echoing unresolved tensions felt across the Balkans.
Today, Skopje's Kale Fortress stands as a powerful symbol, a silent witness overlooking the modern city. It carries the weight of millennia – Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ottoman, Macedonian – a chronicle in stone, perhaps holding stories that connect more lands and peoples than we even realize.
Imagine standing here in Maribor, perhaps looking towards our own Pohorje hills or the castle watching the Drava.
Now, let your thoughts travel south, across lands that have seen empires rise and fall, to Skopje, the heart of North Macedonia. There, dominating the skyline like an ancient crown on the city's highest hill, sits the Skopje Fortress – known to everyone simply as 'Kale', the Turkish word for fortress. It's a place so central to Skopje's identity, it proudly stands on the city's coat of arms and flag, much like symbols hold meaning for our own Slovenian towns.
The story of Kale goes back incredibly far, long before written records were common. People lived on this strategic spot way back in the mists of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, around 4000 BC! The first real fortress walls rose in the 6th century AD, possibly built by the famous Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Picture Roman Skupi nearby, a bustling city tragically flattened by a massive earthquake in 518. Builders salvaged stones from those ruins – yellow limestone, travertine, even fragments with Latin inscriptions – giving the new fortress foundations built, quite literally, on history.
Through the centuries, Kale wasn't just stone; it was power. It witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms. For a time, between 992 and 1015, it was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire. Later, in 1346, imagine the scene: Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan chose this very fortress to declare himself Emperor, making Skopje the centre of his vast Serbian Empire. Think of the echoes those stones must hold – battles, coronations, shifting borders – a turbulent history shared in different ways across many lands in this part of Europe, perhaps even influencing tales told along ancient trade routes that might have connected the Vardar valley to regions closer to our own Alps.
Jump forward to 1660. A keen-eyed Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi, visited Kale and wrote down exactly what he saw. He described a mighty fortress with double walls shining "as if polished," defended by seventy bastions and three great gates. He spoke of guards, decorations of arms, a clever wooden drawbridge over a deep trench, and how the fortress sat untouchable on tall rocks overlooking the whole plain, with the Vardar River flowing below. It paints a picture of imposing Ottoman strength.
Like many old castles, perhaps even some whispered about in Slovenian legends that have faced their own trials, Kale has suffered too. The devastating 1963 Skopje earthquake damaged it significantly. But starting around 2006, archaeologists began carefully uncovering its secrets. They found ancient woodwind instruments and pottery dating back thousands of years, remnants of houses hidden beneath the visible layers, and even unearthed the largest hoard of Byzantine coins ever found in Macedonia! It's like digging directly into the past.
However, history isn't always peaceful. Around 2011, the discovery of foundations from a 13th-century church led to plans for a church museum. This sparked a painful dispute. Ethnic Albanian groups argued the site held older, Illyrian roots, leading to protests and clashes over heritage, identity, and ownership – a stark reminder that the layers of history here are complex and deeply felt, sometimes echoing unresolved tensions felt across the Balkans.
Today, Skopje's Kale Fortress stands as a powerful symbol, a silent witness overlooking the modern city. It carries the weight of millennia – Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ottoman, Macedonian – a chronicle in stone, perhaps holding stories that connect more lands and peoples than we even realize.
20