Baba Vida ( bg, Баба Вида) is a medieval castle in

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as ...

in northwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and the town's primary landmark. It consists of two concentric curtain walls and about nine towers of which three are preserved to their full medieval height, including the original battlements, and is the only entirely preserved medieval castle in the country. Baba Vida is above sea level.Baba Vida Altitude and Location
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The construction of the castle began in the 10th century at the place of the Ancient Roman castell Bononia. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

, Kula was awarded

Zaječar Zaječar ( sr-Cyrl, Зајечар, ; ro, Zaicear or ) is a city and the administrative center of the Zaječar District in eastern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the city administrative area has a population of 59,461 inhabitants. Zaječa ...

and the

Timok Valley The Timok Valley ( sr, Тимочка Крајина, Timočka Krajina; bg, Тимошко, Timoshko; ro, Valea Timocului) is a geographical region in east-central Serbia around the Timok River. The Timok Valley corresponds to parts of two Serbi ...

, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the castle in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida

Baba Vida served as part of Vidin's main defensive installation during the course of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and acted as the

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...

of the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold withstood an eight-month-long siege by

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

forces led by

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

. It was enlarged and modernized during the rule of

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Ivan Stratsimir (1356-1396), as whose capital it served. Between 1365 and 1369, the castle was in Hungarian hands. Vidin was suddenly attacked by the forces of Louis I of Hungary, but it took several months to conquer Baba Vida. In 1369, Ivan Sratsimir managed to regain control of his capital, albeit having to remain under Hungarian overlordship. In 1388, the Ottomans invaded Sratsimir's lands and forced him to become their

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

. In 1396, he joined an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the King of Hungary,

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it '' Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

, placing his resources at the crusaders' disposal. The crusade ended in the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis at

Nikopol, Bulgaria Nikopol ( bg, Никопол ; historically el, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, la, Nicopolis, tr, Niğbolu) is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol Municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of ...

, with the Ottomans capturing most of Sratsimir's domains shortly thereafter, in 1397. The castle played a role during the

Ottoman rule of Bulgaria The history of Ottoman Bulgaria spans nearly 500 years, from the conquest by the Ottoman Empire of the smaller kingdoms emerging from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire in the late 14th century, to the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. A ...

, serving as a weapon warehouse and a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, also as residence for

Osman Pazvantoğlu Osman Pazvantoğlu (1758 – January 27, 1807 in Vidin) was an Ottoman soldier, governor of Vidin after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule. He is also remembered as the friend of Rigas Feraios, a Greek revolutionary poet, whom he tried to r ...

, and it has been no longer used for defensive purposes since the end of the 18th century. Today, Baba Vida castle functions as a museum. Being a popular tourist attraction, the castle is being kept in repair.

Gallery

File:Baba Vida Inside Dinev.jpg, Inside the castle File:Baba vida castle i galleryfull.jpg File:Fotosgvidin 052.JPG File:Baba Vida E3.JPG File:Baba Vida E2.JPG File:Baba Vida Fotress.jpg File:Baba Vida E15.JPG File:Baba Vida E18.JPG File:Baba Vida E12.JPG File:Baba Vida E11.JPG File:Baba Vida E10.JPG File:Baba Vida E9.JPG, Austrian-built tower from the 17th century File:Baba Vida E5.JPG File:Baba Vida E7.JPG File:Baba Vida Fortress - Museum2.jpg File:Baba Vida Klearchos 4.jpg

References

External links

Website about Baba Vida

{{Castles in Bulgaria Castles in Bulgaria Museums in Vidin Buildings and structures in Vidin Tourist attractions in Vidin Province History of Vidin