Refinement of the Danube fortresses (2020-2022)
Magnolias for Golubac fortress
Golubac fortress
The Golubac fortress was built at the very entrance to the Djerdap Gorge, at the place where the Danube crosses into the gorge of the Carpathian Mountains at its widest point. In written sources, the fortress is mentioned for the first time in 1335, but it was certainly founded before that, and there is no further information about which and when it was built by Serbs or Hungarians. The fortress was ruled by Hungarians, Turks and Serbs. Historical military commanders Hungarian King Ludovic, Bayezid I, Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg, Despot Stefan Lazarević, Duke Jeremija, Polish Knight Zavisa the Black, Muhammed II, Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, Emperor Leopold besieged the Golubac fortress.
The Golubac fortress is adorned with 9 towers and the members of Rotary Dedinje had the opportunity to visit them and learn in detail about the historical facts related to this magnificent medieval building on the banks of the Danube, organized by the hosts. In the Pavilion of the fortress at the time of the visit of the Rotary Club Belgrade Dedinje, there was an exhibition dedicated to the oldest preserved Serbian illustrated cyrillic manuscript, Miroslav’s Gospel, which dates back to the eighties of the 12th century. The hosts of the Golubac fortress also held a lecture about this Serbian historical gem, which is written on parchment on 181 leaves in a leather binding.
The ruler of Hum, Miroslav, the brother of the great prefect Stefan Nemanja, commissioned the production of this gospel from the disciple Gligoria. The original of Miroslav’s Gospel is today in the National Museum in Belgrade, except for one sheet of 166 pages, which is kept in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. We would like to thank the Golubac Fortress for hosting the Belgrade Dedinje Rotary Club and I hope this is the beginning of a successful collaboration.
The action of planting magnolias in the Golubac fortress of the Rotary Club Belgrade Dedinje was helped by the company rasadnik Topalović from Lipolist and the courier company BEX Srbija.
Rotarians plant trees in the name of collegiality, friendship, community service, and contributing to a greener world.
Spring tradition – planting trees on the Danube fortresses
Ram fortress
In the spring of 2021, members of the Rotary Club of Belgrade Dedinje planted lilacs next to the Ram fortress on the Danube. The first weekend of spring is the best time to plant 200 seedlings in this historic place, located about 90 km from Belgrade, on the banks of the Danube. Like all fortresses in Serbia, this one is full of incredible epic stories and events during the stay of different civilizations and conquerors in our area – the Roman, Turkish and Austro-Hungarian empires.
Together with the Belgrade Stari Grad Rotary Club and the E-Klub Rotary Club, we were hosted by the local community. The vice president of the municipality of Veliko Gradište, Mr. Slađan Marković, organized a welcome for us as well as a tour of the entire site. They are very pleased that, after last year’s magnolia planting at the Golubac fortress, we came to make the Ramska fortress even more beautiful. With that, we also became a small part of our great history. After we planted the trees together, we went on an organized tour of the fortress and museum and learned a lot of great stories from the local tour guide Ilija.
Text compiled by: Igor Mijatović
Taken from the website of Rotary Club Belgrade Dedinje
Club members who participated in the activity: Igor Mijatović, Nikola Krstić, Nikola Stojadinović, Dragoslav Andrić
