Ostrovica Fortress

Ostrovica Fortress
Ostrovica, Zadar County, Croatia
Steep rock with remains of the former fortress
Ostrovica Fortress
Coordinates	43°57′32″N 15°47′37″E / 43.958889°N 15.793611°E / 43.958889; 15.793611
Type	Hilltop castle
Site information
Controlled by	Šubić noble family (until 1347) , king Louis I Angevin (1347–1382) , various other proprietors in shorter periods of time
Condition	razed to the ground
Site history
Built	12th century (?)
Built by	(unknown)
Materials	hewn stone (ashlar)

Ostrovica Fortress (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈostrovitsa]; Croatian: Tvrđava Ostrovica) is a ruined medieval fortification on a solid rock jutting from the top of the hill above the village of Ostrovica in Zadar County, Croatia. It is located between the two historical and geographical regions, Bukovica and Ravni Kotari. It was once an important stronghold, known as the "Key to the City of Zadar", as it was a key defense of the city. It was destroyed during the Ottoman–Venetian Wars in the second half of the 17th century, leaving only a few remains.

The name Ostrovica was first mentioned in the second half of the 12th century (according to Croatian historian Vjekoslav Klaić), when the Byzantine historian John Cinnamus listed the Croatian places conquered by the army of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus in 1168, quoting, among others, Split, Trogir, Šibenik, Skradin and Ostrovica. For the second time castrum Ostrovica was specified as a place where an army of, then herzog (duke), Andrew II, future Croato-Hungarian king, camped in 1198 on its way back home from a military campaign in the south.