Novo Brdo Fortress

Novo Brdo Fortress
Novo Brdo, Kosovo
Upper town of Novo Brdo Fortress
Coordinates	42°36′54″N 21°25′02″E / 42.61500°N 21.41722°E / 42.61500; 21.41722
Type	fortification
Height	13 metres (43 ft)
Site information
Condition	Ruins
Site history
Built	c. 1285
Built by	Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia
In use	1285–1687
Materials	Stone, limestone and breccia
Battles/wars	Sieges: 1412–13, 1427, 1429, 1439, 1440–41, 1455, 1686, 1690
Events	Ratification of Mining Law in 1412 Fall of the Serbian Empire Great Turkish War

Novo Brdo Fortress (Albanian: Kalaja e Novobërdës, Kalaja e Artanës; Serbian: Тврђава Ново Брдо, Tvrđava Novo Brdo) is a medieval Serbian fortress in Kosovo. Its ruins are located near the town of Novo Brdo, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Pristina. The fortress was built in the late 13th century by king Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia to protect gold, silver, iron and lead mines which were abundant throughout the area. Novo Brdo was famous for its silver. Together with the castles of Prizren, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the southwest, and Prilepac, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the southeast, which guard access roads to the fortress, Novo Brdo helped form a defensive complex overlooking the lucrative mining operations. Novo Brdo was at its height during the Serbian Despotate (1402–1459), when it was the most important mining area and second most important town in Serbia. A significant number of Saxon miners, Albanian Catholics^[1] and a large Ragusan merchant colony lived within the town, which was ruled by a vojvoda, but also a governor (kefalija), because it was the seat of an administrative unit of the Despotate.^[2]

Systematic archaeological research of the site began in 1952. In 1948, during the Yugoslav era, the fortress of Novo Brdo was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance.^[3] When Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 it was temporarily designated as a special protective site and since 2014 is on the database of protected cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo.^[4]