Ram Fortress

The Ram Fortress is situated on the right bank of the Danube, on the edge of the slopes of Homolje mountains, the watershed rising between the valleys of the rivers Mlava and Pek. It sits squarely on the spot where the course of the Danube takes a turn to the north, creating a large bend to bypass a rocky cliff, almost 20 metres high.  

The Fortress has an irregular pentangular shape. While smaller in size (25 х 35 metres at the base), it is a compact and well-defended fort thanks to its situation and the unity of its fortification elements. A cliff shields it from the west, while the remaining three sides are protected by a deep dry moat and double ramparts. 

A hidden walkway ran between the main rampart and the external one, probably along the entire perimeter of the Fortress. In addition to its favourable situation, its main defensive strength were its five cannon towers of different shapes. The ground sections of towers 1, 3, 4 and 5 had a separate entrance, while the upper storeys would have been accessed either via a separate external stairwell or through posterns, separate gates in the ramparts which enabled communication along the walkway on the ramparts.

The keep was separate from this system and was not connected to the walkway along the rampart, which afforded it an additional level of protection. The Fortress had two very well protected and hidden entrances in the western rampart. The main one was at the ground floor of the keep, facing westwards, while the auxiliary one was near Tower 5, forming a part of the western rampart.

A number of drystone buildings with stone foundations and bundwerk walls was discovered inside the fortification. These buildings, recognisable for their ovens tiled and edged with bricks built inside the stone walls, occupied much of the internal space and were used for housing the military crew. 

At least two stratigraphic horizons have been identified, belonging to the period of the Austro-Turkish Wars in the late 17th and the early 18th Centuries, when the military crew was not housed at the towers, which was common in the early stages in the  fortification’s use, in the late 15th Century and throughout the 16th Century.

The round-shaped building had two stages of construction and two levels. The older stage, found at the lower level, had a round base, without an entrance and with a 3.3 metres thick wall, while the newer stage (upper level) has been partly preserved in  the southern half of the structure.

It had a regular polygonal (dodecagonal) base with a 0.6 metres thick wall. The function of this building has not yet been reliably determined.

The Ram Fortress is a specific fear of military architecture which, although distinctly designed for artillery purposes, with three-storey towers, each featuring three cannon holes at each storey and one on each exterior wall surface,  nevertheless incorporates numerous Byzantine architectural features.