Žrnov

Žrnov Fortress Тврђава Жрнов
Belgrade Serbia
Žrnov fortress on Avala near Belgrade, destroyed in 1934
Site information
Condition	Demolished
Site history
Built	Roman Era
Built by	Roman Empire

Žrnov or Žrnovan (Жрнов) was a medieval fortress on the highest top of Avala, at 511 metres (1,677 ft), in Belgrade, Serbia. At the top Ancient Romans built the outpost, and later the Bulgarian and the Serbs expanded it into a fortress.

Ottomans captured the fort, and expanded and strengthened it for preparations of the attack on Belgrade, based on the orders of Sihàb ed-Dîn Pasa, eunuch beylerbey of Rumelia Eyalet.^[1] In the city, according to legend dwelt, celebrated in songs, Porča of Avala. The remains of the fortifications was demolished by dynamite in 1934,^[2] in order to clear the site for the construction of Mausoleum Monument to the Unknown Hero, whose author was the sculptor Ivan Meštrović.

See also

• Tourism in Serbia
• Monument to the Unknown Hero
• List of fortresses in Serbia

References

1. Srejović, Dragoslav; Gavrilović, Slavko; Ćirković, Sima M. (1982). Istorija srpskog naroda: knj. Od najstarijih vremena do Maričke bitke (1371). Srpska književna zadruga. p. 254.
2. How Žrnov was destroyed (Serbian)

Coordinates: 44°41′19″N 20°30′57″E / 44.6887°N 20.5158°E