Exhibitions at Golubac Fortress

In the early 15th century the Danube formed a border between Hungary, Serbia and the Ottoman Empire. A succession of events made Golubac the most prominent border fortification, which in 1428 prompted the Hungarian king Sigismund to summon Europe’s best knights and lead them to its walls. The ensuing battle resonated through the entire known world, while noble acts of the knights have outlived the centuries.

Despot Stefan Lazarevic died in 1427.  years. Based on the treaty in Tata, Sigismund immediately claimed his territories back, and in October 1427. Djuradj Brankovic returned Belgrade. However, the commander of Golubac, Duke Jeremiah, refused to surrender the city, demanding a sum of 12,000 ducats, because he allegedly gave so much to despot Stefan to hold the city.

He allegedly submitted a document about this, but Zigmund disputed the accuracy of the document and the seal, which is why Jeremiah, despite Djurdj Brankovic's attempts to answer him with intent, sold the fortress to the Ottomans. Realizing that he had a dangerous enemy on his doorstep, the Hungarian king built the fortress of Laslovar on the opposite bank of the Danube in the same year, from where in April 1428, with a large fleet and an army of 30,000 men, besieged the Golubac Fortress.

Sigismund made a truce with the Ottomans, with an agreement that the Fortress would remain in their possession, and that the Hungarians would safely withdraw across the Danube to Laslovar, but the Ottomans violated the agreement and attacked the Hungarian army during the war.

Zawisza Black of Garbow (1379-1428) was a famous Polish knight, one of the greatest national heroes of Poland. He got the nickname Black because of his dark hair and complexion, and he gained fame thanks to numerous victories in knightly tournaments and battles, fighting in the name of his and the Hungarian king. While King Sigismund was rescued by boarding a ship and transporting him across the Danube to Laslovar, Zaviša Black, with his troops of Poles, Vlachs and Italians, protected the apostate.

The Polish writer Jan Dlugosz is most responsible for the creation of the Zavisin cult, who described the feat and suffering of this knight in 1428. years, making the character of Zavishe an inspiration to many later Polish artists. Even today, the Poles say "rely on him as on Zavis", which has remained a symbol of honor and loyalty.

The Hungarians called them castellans, the Serbs named them dukes, and in the Ottoman Empire they were known as dizdars (fortress commanders). The Golubac Fortress has always had a high protection priority under all authorities.

Historical sources reveal that governors of the Golubac Fortress were appointed from among influential people from the ranks of the upmost mediaeval social strata, whereby its prominence was well known to the Hungarian kings and to Europe, as well as to distant Constantinople.   

The Golubac Fortress was under Serbian rule until 1427. year, or the death of Despot Stefan, and then again, in the period from 1444 -1458. year, during the despot Djurdj Brankovic.

Golubac Fortress was under the Ottomans for the first time after the Battle of Kosovo, around 1390. years. The second time it came under Ottoman rule was the famous sale of Jeremiah in 1427, under which it remained until 1444. year. In August 1458, the Ottomans finally occupied it, and the following year, 1459, they captured the entire Despotate. Ali Beg Mihalović (Mihaloglu) was a prominent Ottoman commander.

Golubac Fortress was first mentioned in 1335. year when there was a conflict between the Hungarian King Charles I Robert of Anjou and the Serbian King Dusan. From the first mention in the sources, until the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368 - 1437) with a short break, Golubac was under Hungarian rule.

Miroslav's Gospel, the oldest preserved Serbian Cyrillic manuscript, was written and painted by Serbian monks in the last quarter of the 12th century. Due to the unique symbolism of artistic decorations, which are directly related to the text and liturgical service, playful characters full of life, in the creation of which Eastern and Western influences are intertwined, UNESCO included it in the Memory of the World, among the 120 most valuable movable property in history.

The client of the enthroned evangelist was Prince Miroslav of Hum. According to tradition, his younger brother, the great prefect Stefan Nemanja, named Simeon in monasticism, brought him to Mount Athos during the founding of the Hilandar monastery in 1198/99. There, Miroslav's Gospel spent a full 7 centuries surrounded by prayers, and then a series of unusual events followed.

One cut leaf traveled to Jerusalem, Kiev, Moscow, and finally, in 1883, reached the Russian Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg, from where word spread about the Athos Gospel, which has the impossible art decorations. Serbian King Alexander I Obrenović, 1896. year, he paid the debts of the Hilandar monastery and took over the manuscript.

After the  assassination of the king, in 1903, the Gospel disappeared from the court safe. During the First World War, 1915, it turns out that he was in the possession of the new king all the time Peter I Karadjordjevic. With the Serbian army and the General Treasury, the book crosses the Albanian mountains, travels to Italy and then to Corfu.

A year after the murder of Peter's son, King Alexander I Karadjordjevic, Prince Paul donates Miroslav's Gospel to the Museum of Prince Paul. During the Second World War, he avoided numerous German searches, and today he is kept in the National Museum in Belgrade.

There are older manuscripts in the world than Miroslav's Gospel, there are more significant ones, there are more beautiful ones, but none of them provoked so much enthusiasm and sacrifice of the people who came in contact with him and showed God's providence in action. 

There are three facsimiles of Miroslav's Gospel in the palace of the Golubac Fortress:

1.) Facsimile from 1897.  years.
 
2.) Facsimile from 1998. years
 
3.) Facsimile from 2019. Years