Photo of the week #36 ~ The fortress edition ~ The Channel Guardian

St Nicholas Fortress was built in the mid-sixsteenth century (1540-1547) on the small island of Ljuljevac at the entrance of the St Anthony Channel.
On this small island there used to be the Benedictine monastery of St Nicolas.

The fortress was designed and built by the renowned Venetian architect-builder Gian Girolamo Sanmicheli.
The exceptionally beautiful front entrence of the fortress is most vluable archicetural and sculptural detail.

The fortress has 32 cannon ports and they are located at the top of the fortress and on the sea level.

Lower parts were built of stone and upper of tufa and covered with brick in order to more effectively counteract cannon balls.

St Nicholas Fortress is considered to be one of the strongest and most facinating fortifications on the Croatian coast and it is almost completely preserved in its original form.
It is surrounded by the sea and connected land by an isthmus.

The reason for the construction of the fortress was the Turkish conquest of Skradin and the danger of making the sea connection through Šibenik Bay which would enable the Turks to jeoparadise the safety of the town.

I’ve been on this fortress a lot of times, so here is a few more photos from the top and inside the fort.

In 2017, the Fortress of St. Nikola is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

.. thank you ..