Sisak Fortress

The fortress at Sisak was built between 1544 and 1550 on the wedge of land where the Kupa runs into the Sava, three round towers joined by walls in a triangle, put up by the Zagreb chapter against the Ottoman advance up the Sava valley. In June 1593 an Ottoman army besieging it was destroyed by a relief force in a battle that is generally treated as the point at which the Ottoman push into this part of Croatia was halted, and which triggered the Long War. The building now holds part of the Sisak town museum, and the rivers still meet directly outside its walls.

History

The fortress was built against the growing Ottoman threat, on the orders of the Bishop of Zagreb, who owned the estate, between 1544 and 1550; its master builder was Petar, or Pietro, of Milan, and it cost more than 3,300 florins. It is a triangle of brick walls, more than 30 metres long and pierced with loopholes, between three round towers with conical roofs, with the river covering one side. Hasan Predojević, pasha of Bosnia from 1591, attacked Sisak several times, and in his last campaign his army of around 12,000 was heavily defeated on 22 June 1593 and he himself killed, a turning point that halted the Ottoman advance. With the pressure gone in the 17th century the fortress changed owners several times and was repaired whenever damaged; today it holds collections of the Sisak Town Museum, founded in 1951 (Wikipedia, Sisak Fortress).

What's there

• A triangle of three towers - built in 1544-1550 at the river junction.
• The battle of 1593 - the relief that broke the siege and the advance.
• Two rivers meeting outside - the Kupa into the Sava.
• A town museum inside - in the fortress buildings.

When to go

April to October; the museum reduces hours in winter. Two hours.

Before you go

The fortress is small and the visit is short. Sisak is an industrial town with limited tourist infrastructure. Flooding has affected the site and the area has also had earthquake damage in recent years.

Nearby

Lonjsko Polje and its stork villages are downstream; Zagreb is north-west.

Key facts