In the Lower Town of Belgrade Fortress, just before the Sava River flows smoothly into the Danube, gracefully stands a 500 year old towerlooking towards New Belgrade. This is Nebojsa Tower, built around 1460 as part of the city’s defence system protecting the core of the city from the Ottomans and sometimes called ‘the last wall of Christianity’. The cannons were positioned at the lower part to fiercely defend Belgrade. Only after the tower was set ablaze by the Ottomans, was Belgrade and then the whole of Serbia occupied and the way to Western Europe was open to the Turks.
The name of the tower changed through history, it was known variously as the White Tower and the Timisoara Tower, but today’s name was given in the 18th century in memory of the main tower of the castle of despot Stefan Lazarevic, a knight and a poet, who made Belgrade the capital of all of Serbia.
During the short period of Austrian rule (1717-1739) Nebojsa Tower, like the whole of Belgrade Fortress, was reconstructed for further military operations against the Turks. Reinforcing didn’t help and the Ottomans occupied Belgrade again but decided to make Nebojsa Tower into a dungeon.
The famous Greek Revolutionary Rigas Feraiso was murdered at Nebojsa Tower in 1798 and the place was a point of dispute between the Greek and Serbian Governments for a while. The Greeks wanted to buy Nebojsa Tower and declare it Greek property, opening a museum dedicated to their national hero. During this time the tower was closed to visitors until 2007 when the joint Hellenic-Serbian project was launched with a conservation plan to turning the tower into a museum.
Today, the modern museum is divided into five different areas spread over two floors showing the life not only of Nebojsa Tower throughout history but also the life of Belgrade Fortress too. It’s an interesting concept, combining historical facts with modern technology. The museum is open from 10am to 8pm during the winter time and tickets are RSD200 (Euro 1.5 approx.)
On leaving the museum, turn right, walk under the railway bridge and enjoy the unique view of the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers. You can also take a stroll along the up and coming area along the right bank of the Sava towards Brankov Bridge.
About the author: Tara
The travel professional with years of experience in the travel industry – in guiding, reservations, operations, contracting, customer service and product development – and have travelled extensively in Asia and Eastern Europe not just on holiday but also for work, inspecting hotels, visiting attractions and seeing exactly what each destination has to offer. The only way I could do this properly was with my own guide, car and driver and this inspired me to create my own range of customised private day tours for other people to be able to explore in-depth and learn to love their destination as much as I do.
Website: www.readyclickandgo.com
Website: http://www.readyclickandgo.com
