St Nicholas’ Fortress is an impressive fortification building from the 16th century that stands out at the very entrance to the St Anthony’s Channel. It was built by the Venetians in order to protect the city of Sibenik from the sea.
Due to its strategic position, Sibenik was one of the most important harbours in the Adriatic. This is why the Venetians surrounded the city with a sofisticated fortification system. Sibenik defence system includes several different fortresess and other military buildings besides St Nicholas:
- St Michael’s Fortress – the first fortress built in Sibenik. The Church of St Michael, located within its walls, has not been preserved, but the fortress kept the name of the saint, who became the patron of Šibenik very early. Together with the city walls it makes the first fortification system built to protect the city within. Only a small part of the city walls is still visible only in Dolac.
- St John Fortress, the biggest among Sibenik’s fortresses, and Barone Fortress were built simultaneously in the 17th century, as a part of the improved fortification system that succesefully managed to defend Sibenik from the Turskish attacks in 1647.
- Various military buildings scaterred trough the St Anthony’s Channel were built in 20th century. Among them the most famous one is a military sea tunnel called “Hitler’s eyes”.
This fortress is a great example of Renaissance military architecture. Venetians built it as a part of their fortification system known as Stato da Mar. They created it in order to protect their overseas territories.
Gian Girolamo Sanmicheli designed it and it was built between 1540 – 1547. Its name originates from the Benedictine Monastery of St Nicholas, which was built on the island, but due to the construction of the fortress, it had to be demolished.
Although the fortress is relatively small, it is stunning especially when approached from the sea. The fortress is triangle-shaped and almost completely covers the isle of Ljuljevac. The whole building is very well preserved.
In July, 2017 it was enlisted on UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of transnational heritage – a group of Venetian defence buildings built, preserved and protecetd in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro.
On our boat tours we pass next to the fortress so you are able to sightsee its massive stone walls from the sea level. If you want to sightsee it from inside, it is possible only by participating on a offical St Nicholas’ Fortress tour. This is the link to their website.
P.S. This post was originally published on April 6th, 2019