Novo Brdo Fortress

Fortress of Novo Brdo
Novo Brdo
Upper town of Novo Brdo Fortress
Type	Fortification
Height	13 metres (43 ft)
Site information
Condition	Ruins
Site history
Built	c. 1285
Built by	Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia
In use	1285–1687
Materials	Stone, limestone and breccia
Battles/wars	Sieges: 1412–13, 1427, 1429, 1439, 1440–41, 1455, 1686, 1690
Events	Ratification of Mining Law in 1412 Fall of the Serbian Empire Great Turkish War

Coordinates: 42°36′54″N 21°25′00″E / 42.61500°N 21.41667°E / 42.61500; 21.41667

Novo Brdo Fortress (Serbian: Тврђава Ново Брдо/Tvrđava Novo Brdo; Albanian: Kalaja e Novoberdës or Kalaja e Artanës) is a medieval Serbian fortress in Kosovo. Its ruins are located near the town of Novo Brdo, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Pristina. The fortress was built in the early 14th century to protect gold, silver, iron and lead mines which were abundant throughout the area. Novo Brdo was famous for its silver. Together with the castles of Prizrenac, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the southwest, and Prilepac, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) to the southeast, which guard access roads to the fortress, Novo Brdo helped form a defensive complex overlooking the lucrative mining operations. Novo Brdo was at its height during the Serbian Despotate (1402–1459), when it was the most important mining area and second most important town in Serbia. A significant number of Saxon miners and a large Ragusan merchant colony lived within the town, which was ruled by a vojvoda, but also a governor (kefalija), because it was the seat of an administrative unit of the Despotate.

For its fortress and production of silver and gold, Novo Brdo has been referred to as the "Mother of all Serbian cities", a "mountain of gold and silver", and the "strongest fortification of Serbia". Systematic archaeological research of the site began in 1952. Novo Brdo Fortress was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1948. After Kosovo's declaration of independence, the site was established as a Special Protective Zone of Kosovo. Remains of fortifications, buildings, and mining facilities are scattered throughout the area. Constant illegal digging to find buried treasure, plundering, and amateur excavations are destroying valuable archaeological strata.