Strategically situated at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, the Belgrade Fortress constitutes the millennial core from which the city was born. Its foundations rest upon the ancient Roman castrum of Singidunum, built to defend the Empire’s border, later devastated by Hun and Goth invasions. In the 15th century, under Despot Stefan Lazarević, it became a splendid fortified Serbian capital, before assuming the role of the “Bulwark of Christianity” against the Turkish advance.

With the Ottoman conquest of 1521, the castle transformed into a military stronghold contested for three centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy. This alternation of rule created a unique stratification: Austrian Baroque bastions intertwine with Oriental towers and architecture. Destroyed and rebuilt over forty times, the fortress stands today as a stone palimpsest testifying to the city’s resilience through the ages.