Baba Vida ( bg, Баба Вида) is a medieval castle in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria 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
/ref>

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

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

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, Kula was awarded Zaječar 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 and acted as the citadel of the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold withstood an eight-month-long siege by Byzantine forces led by Basil II. It was enlarged and modernized during the rule of

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

Ivan Stratsimir Ivan Sratsimir (), or Ivan Stratsimir ( bg, Иван Страцимир), was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Vidin from 1356 to 1396. He was born in 1324 or 1325, and he died in or after 1397. Despite being the eldest surviving son of Ivan Alexand ...

(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 ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370 ...

, 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 The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

invaded Sratsimir's lands and forced him to become their vassal. In 1396, he joined an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the King of Hungary, Sigismund, 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 of Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German, and assorted troops (assisted by the Venetian navy) at ...

at Nikopol, Bulgaria, 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, 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

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