Castle of Zvečan

Fortress of Zvečan
Kosovska Mitrovica, North Kosovo
Overview of the Zvečan fortress
Type	Fortification
Site history
Materials	Stone

The Fortress of Zvečan (Serbian: Tvrđava Zvečan, Тврђава Звечан / Zvešanski grad, Звечански град, Albanian: Kalaja e Zveçanit), also known as Zvečan/Zveçan medieval fortress and Fortress of Mitrovica (Albanian: Kalaja e Mitrovicës), located in the north-west of the city of North Kosovska Mitrovica, in North Kosovo, is an enormous castle and one of the oldest fortresses in South Eastern Europe. It was built on the top of the extinct volcano vent, overlooking the Ibar river.

Zvečan Fortress was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia though lying within Kosovo.

It represents one of the oldest Balkan medieval fortresses, although its exact date of construction is unknown. The underlying construction dates from the period of classical antiquity, and it is not unlikely that the location was fortified in prehistoric times. As a border fort of the Raška state, the site gained importance in 1093, when the Serbian ruler Vukan Vukanović, launched his conquest of Kosovo (then part of the Byzantine Empire) from there.