Baba Vida () is a medieval castle in

Vidin Vidin (, ) 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 of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

in northwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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.

The construction of the castle began in the 10th century at the place of the

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

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 and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

, Kula was awarded

Zaječar Zaječar ( sr-Cyrl, Зајечар, ; or ) is a city and the administrative center of the Zaječar District in eastern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city administrative area had a population of 48,621 inhabitants. Zaječar is widely ...

and the Timok Valley, 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and acted as the

citadel A citadel is the most 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. ...

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

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

forces led by

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

. It was enlarged and modernized during the rule of

tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

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 Louis I, also Louis the Great (; ; ) or Louis the Hungarian (; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of ...

, 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 Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

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 The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied Crusader army (assisted by the Venetian navy) at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising the siege of the Danubian fortress of Nicopolis and le ...

Nikopol, Bulgaria Nikopol ( ; historically , , ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol Municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, downstream from the Danube’s confluence with the Osam river ...

, with the Ottomans capturing most of Sratsimir's domains shortly thereafter, in 1397. The castle played a role during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, serving as a weapon warehouse and a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

, also as residence for Osman Pazvantoğlu, 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

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