Novopazarska Tvrđava

Serbia, Serbia

---

Novopazarska Tvrđava, also known as the Novi Pazar Fortress, is a 15th-century Ottoman triangular fortification in the center of Novi Pazar, Serbia, on the right bank of the Raška River amid the city park. Likely initiated by Isa-beg Ishaković around the 1460s with initial wooden palisades, it was fortified with stone ramparts, three corner bastions (tabias), and a prominent 15-meter Watchtower (Stara izvidnica or Kula Motrilja) after the 1683 Ottoman defeat at Vienna, with expansions continuing into the 18th and 19th centuries including towers, a mosque, barracks, and armory. Serving as a strategic military hub at caravan crossroads linking Bosnia and Constantinople, it housed churches later destroyed, endured sieges and rebuilds, and stands today as a protected cultural monument offering panoramic views.