Travel challenge #31: Baba Vida Fortress

On an area of ​​9.5 decares on the bank of the Danube, in the northern part of Vidin there is the fortress "Babini Vidini Kuli" or also called "Baba Vida".

The fortress is built on the remains of the ancient city of Bononia. The construction of the medieval castle started in the second half of the 10th century, but during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (the end of the 12th and 14th centuries) the most important construction was made. The last Bulgarian king before the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman domination Ivan Sratsimir (1324 - 1397) lived in the fortress.

There is a legend according to which Vida was the biggest daughter of a wealthy Bulgarian boyar. Because of the unsuccessful marriages of her sisters, Kula and Gamza, Vida rejected all the marriage proposals that had built the castle and stayed there for the rest of her life.

During the Ottoman rule, storage facilities for food and ammunition and guard rooms were built in the fortress. After the Liberation (1878), access to it was banned because the site was used by the military.
The first excavations in the fortress from 1956 to 1962 reveal remains of Roman, Byzantine, early Bulgarian, late Bulgarian and Ottoman times.

Baba Vida opened its doors for visits in 1958, with a museum in the castle.

In 1964, the medieval castle was declared a cultural monument of national importance.

The fortress is surrounded by a ditch that has once been filled with water from the Danube, and the bridge has been mobile. Baba Vida had nine angular and intermediate towers, and the walls and towers ended with soldiers.

During the excavations, the foundations of a chapel from the 13th - 14th centuries were found.

Currently, two towers are available to visit. There is a prison in the fortress where torture devices can be seen. Attractive are the figures of a hangman and a prisoner with whom tourists are often photographed. On one of the terraces are exposed toes and gallows.

"Baba Vida" is one of the most preserved medieval defense facilities in Bulgaria and it is not accidental that it is often a set for filming. In the fortress is located the summer theater of Vidin, where concerts, theater plays, etc. are held.

Cards, souvenirs and information materials can be purchased for memory of the fortress.

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