The fortress of Herceg Stjepan, or the old town of Ljubuski, is a medieval fortress on the territory of the municipality of Ljubuski.
It was built on a solid, rugged location, at an altitude of 396 m above sea level.
The fortress is associated with Duke Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca and was mentioned in 1452 in connection with the battles between Duke Stjepan and his sons, princes Vladislav and Vlatko.
In the mentioned year, Duke Vladislav went over to the side of the Republic of Dubrovnik in the war against his father. Herceg Stjepan took refuge in the fortress in Ljubuski. That year, Vladislav tried to seize the city of Ljubuski from his father, but failed to conquer it.
In 1463, the Ottomans conquered Ljubuski for the first time. They only held it for a month (June-July) because they had to retreat due to insufficient supplies for the army, so Duke Vlatko quickly returned the city to his rule.
Between 1468 and 1477, the Ottomans definitively conquered Ljubuski. As early as 1477, it was a border fortress with a strong garrison and belonged to the Drina cadiluk. In the contract between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary in 1503, Ljubuski was mentioned as one of the border towns that remained under Ottoman rule.
The fortress consists of two parts. The first fortification was created during the medieval Bosnian state. Inside the walls, you can see the last remains of various buildings: guardhouse, barn, bakeries, gunpowder mills, and 4 cisterns (reservoirs) have been identified, three of which can be recognized on the ground today.
The Ottoman part of the fortress was built around a medieval fortification, which then became the core of a large fortress, like an acropolis, surrounded by walls on all sides.
About 250 m northwest of the entrance to the fortress, there are the ruins of a mosque that was probably built by Nesuhaga Vucjakovic in the middle of the 16th century. This fortress was declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2003.
A legend is also associated with this city, which says that once upon a time, Herceg Stjepan, unable to resist the beauty of a young Venetian woman, his son’s future fiancée, known for his uncontrollable nature, kidnapped a beautiful Venetian bride from his son, whom the latter had brought from Venice by ship, and who then invited the Ottomans and went to war with his father. That’s how Kosaca stole the bride at sea and took her to his fortress in Ljubuski. Hence the name of the city. The place where Kosaca loved (Bosnian: ljubovati), Radio Sarajevo reports.
E.Dz.
