Kurvingrad

Kurvingrad (Serbian Cyrillic: Курвинград, lit. "Whoretown") or Koprijan (Копријан), is the ruined fortress which sits above the village of Doljevac on the South Morava river, 11 km south of the town of Niš.[1] The ruins are all that remain of the medieval town of Koprijan from the time of Antiquity, making the fortress over a thousand years old. Today, there are remains of fortifications, but they have not been substantially studied.[2]

Kurvingrad
Location	Klisura (Doljevac), 18000 , Serbia
Coordinates	43°13′17″N 21°50′41″E
Type	Fortification

History

An important advantage of the location's defense was its situation in inaccessible mountainous terrain, providing a clear view of the valley and the river, and protected from rear attack by even a higher mountain, Seličevica. Because of its strategic location during the Roman Empire, it served as part of the tower defense of the Via Militaris Roman military road. The city was still an important military point at the time of the Byzantine Empire, with the name of Kompolos.

In the mid-6th century, Emperor Justinian I built thirty-two new forts and restored seven forts in the region of his birth. He also built a number of castles, so that the population had a place of refuge in case of the barbarian attack on the Danube. It is possible that the restored castle was ad Herculum i Calis. Calis later could have been incorrectly written Komplos. It is quite possible that it served as the northern defense for Justiniana Prima.[3]

The old city fortification Koprijan was built at the time of Knez Lazar, on the foundations of the Roman and Byzantine fortification. At the time of the battle for the Turkish throne in 1413, it was conquered and destroyed by the Sultan Musa Çelebi. After his defeat, the city was returned to despot Stefan Lazarevic.

The document of the Peace of Szeged in 1444 mentions Koperhamum and Procopius, suggesting that Komplos must have been on the site of the present-day Kurvingrad. There is a noticeable similarity in the names, and the whole area is rich in Byzantine findings; a Byzantine basilica and several graves were found in the neighboring village of Doljevac. During the digging the foundations of those buildings, people often found the ruins of older structures, which are dated to the 6th to 8th centuries by the materials used and the manner of building.

In 1451, the Ottoman Empire occupied Kurvingrad, 70 years after the fall of Niš. The Ottoman population census in 1498 mentioned Kurvingrad village with their 40 households. By 1498, the village of Kurvingrad has only 20 households.[3] In 1516, Nišava District was affected by plague, which caused the population to decline.

Travel writer Ami Bue mentioned in the first half of the 19th century, the ruins of this city.[4] The remains of the fortress was repeatedly used as building material for the construction of Niš Fortress.[5]

In the 20th century, materials from the ruins were used by the local population as building materials.[6]

In 1933, there was a stone church building on the site, of a Moravian type of construction.

During World War I, the site was used by the Germans command, for establishing their defensive front against the Serbian army, which was moving rapidly, advancing to the north in October 1918. The German front could not be held, despite its very strong position, only because the Serbian army came over the top of Seličevica and found themselves behind their enemies' back, who left Niš without a fight.

Stone inscription from Niš Fortress

In 1933, researchers examinging Niš Fortress found stone inscription from above a doorway for Koprijan city. The item, 114 cm by 123 cm in size, is now in the collection of the exhibits of the National Museum in Niš. It was carved out of the white oval stone. The upper side of the stone is flat and the width of 26 cm, and the lower side of the back wall is 26 cm. On the pillar in the four row (width 16 cm) was written on the Serbian Church Slavonic, Cyrillic alphabet with the same letters in the size of 3 cm, the following: "Аз Ненад, син казнаца Богдана, сазидах си град Копријан годо...ва дни благовернаго господина ми кнеза лазара ва лето…"[3] (Vlastelin Nenad, son of Kaznac Bogdan, built the city of Koprijan in the days of your glory, my Lord Prince Lazar in the year ...") The inscription was slightly damaged on the edges, so it is not very clear whether this year as preserved is the 6880 years, or it is 1372 years of the old Serbian calendar which coincides with the reign of Knez Lazar. If this is true, then in the 1372, Nenad the son of Bogdan, built the city of Koprijan.

Researchers were unsure where the panel came from. The stone was located next to the other stones, as well as other unused building materials. It is believed that the stone was got here in one of the later Ottoman invasions, before the fall of Serbian Despotate. Koprijan likely shared the fate of most other Serbian medieval towns, which were robbed, burned and destroyed, and then used for the construction of other Turkish military bases.

It is not certain whether the medieval Koprijan is actually today the site of Kurvingrad, or whether the Byzantine fortress near Nis was Calis, and then incorrectly spelled as Komplos. The Byzantine fortress lost its significance in 1372 when Koprijan was finished.[3]

Timeline

• 1020: Charter of Basil II, Komplos.
• 1372: Border city Despotate, Koprijan.
• 1413: Musa, son of Bajazet, occupies the city and he returned it to Stefan Lazarević.
• 1443: The city is taken by the Ottoman Empire
• 1444: The city was restored to Đurđ Branković
• 1451: The city was more permanently taken in conquest by the Ottoman Empire
• 1918: The location was used a base for the German military command.[3]

Origin of the name

There are several legends about the origin of the name Kurvingrad (Whoretown). According to one legend, during the fortress's siege, a certain immoral lady from the village came out at night while people were sleeping, and opened the town's gate for the enemy.

According to another, more commonly held legend, a wealthy lady from the town loved to make nighttime visits to nearby Monastery of St. John at Orljane allegedly for prayer, but actually for the romantic relations with the priest. Legend has it that a girl stretched canvas at night time from the town to the church in which she was baptised.[6]

Alternately, the derogatory name applied during the Ottoman invasion, when Koprijan fell, as the Ottomans had a habit to give Serbian medieval cities derogatory names. Also the word can be read in two ways in Ottoman Turkish.[3]

Finally, there is a belief that the name originates as a reference to the name of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, though there is insufficient historical evidence that Hungary controlled this region during his rule.

Fort looks and features

Koprijan

Kurvinggrad village belonged to the oriental type of settlement and settlements in its vicinity, which are still remained identifying stamp of that time. The fort has an irregular square basis, dimension of 80 × 50 meters, with ramparts has reinforced towers, which surrounded the dry trench. The city was protected by the massive walls up to 10 m, and had a five towers. People entered through the gate which was reinforced by the tower, which is located near the northeastern crown. On the highest part of the hill, along the eastern rampart is located small town in which end is a tower, which rises above the main city gate. The city was protected on all sides by trenches. Because erosion trench today is 2 × 2 m, whereas in the past was deeper. The fortress ramparts, which is now an average height of 4 to 5 m, in the past, it was higher, but it can not be determined by how much exactly, because we have no surviving evidence. The city was built of gray-green undressed stone and the red Brick, which were there earlier, in the same place. Church Saint John was the ceremonial temple center. The western side of the city were kept by three city towers, of which preserved two towers are, one in the southwest, and one central tower. Today, the eastern wall was almost completely demolished. In the past, wall was consisting of two angular towers. As the regarding the three southern towers, only the central tower, and the south-west tower were left. Houses and their interiors was built of wood beam. Based on the foundations of the village's building, with the recess area of 12 m² and depth 1.5 m, while the height of the room today can not be determined. Researchers have found the former building, with dimensions of 12 m², with 1.5 m in depth, while the height of the room today can not be determined. It is believed that this was probably the cistern. A cistern this big could provide enough water for 1,000 people during the siege, but the question is how the water is brought into the city. This raises the assumption that the city owned his own complex of underwater Channel which led to the river South Morava. In the village below the fort were found, during archaeological excavations in year 1933, the foundations of the church built in the Moravian style. The floor of the church was from rough mosaic, The floor of the church was from rough mosaic, and the other parts is derived from alternating tiles, white marble, and green stones, with dimensions 20 x 20m.[2][3][7]

Kurvingrad today

Today the ruins stay in a ruined condition. For many years in the past, residents of surrounding villages are destroying the remains of the fort, and use its stones, in large quantities, for building their own homes, which today left their mark on ruins. By the Decision the republic's Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments, in November 1947., this historical monument has got a status of general people's cultural property, and placed under the protection of the state, along with its surrounding.[3][8]

Of well-preserved forts parts, today are north and east rampart with towers. Western rampart does not exist, while on the south side, all that's left is little remains of the surviving tower in this area. Rampart Little City is barely discernible, and all what left from the "Donzon tower" is a larger pile of stones. The main city gates is destroyed, while tower which protecting main gate is preserved in fragments. Within the Small Town were found the remains of a square building that was probably used as a cistern, while around town people can see the remains of dried Trench.

References

1. Историјски архив Ниш: „ДЕТАЉНИ ПОПИС НАХИЈЕ НИШ ИЗ 1516. ГОДИНЕ“ (in Serbian). Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine HISTORICAL ARCHIVE NIŠ , Retrieved 10 April 2013
2. spomenicikulture.mi.sanu.ac.rs Official website, Retrieved 23 January 2014
3. Arheologija, archaeology article, Retrieved 20 January 2014.
4. srednjevekovni-grad-koprijan Medieval town Koprijan article, Retrieved 20 January 2014
5. koprijan.html Archived 2013-12-26 at the Wayback Machine koprijan article , Retrieved 10 April 2013.
6. Radio+Beograd rts.rs - Official website, Retrieved 17 January 2014.
7. koprijan-kurvingrad Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine, Kurvingrad article, Retrieved 21 January 2014.
8. Zasijaće-Lazareva-tvrđava-Doljevac-uređuje-izletište-Koprijan-planirana-izgradnja-sportskih-terena-i-bungalova, Retrieved 21 January 2014