Novo Brdo Fortress, six towers above the silver mines

Read the Ministry of Culture’s record on Novo Brdo and it’s clear this wasn’t just any castle. It was the key to a town that lived off silver and gold, minted its own coins and drew merchants from Ragusa and Saxon miners. The fortress was there to guard all of that.

A carefully chosen hill

The fortress stands on a small mountain between the Përlepnica and Krivareka rivers, about 39 km south-east of Pristina and 30 to 35 km from Gjilan, according to the Ministry. As the crow flies, OpenStreetMap puts it about 21 km from the capital’s centre. The spot was no accident. The summit commands the whole area and looks across to the smaller forts nearby, which faced it to send and receive signals.

The Ministry places its construction in the 13th and 14th centuries and explains that the name Novo Brdo first appears in the early 14th century, as Nuovo Monte. It also records an open debate. Some take it back to antiquity, because the Greek geographer Strabo, in the 1st century BC, wrote of old cities in Illyria, among them settlements above Ulpiana, above the Veletin of Janjevo and above Artana, the Albanian name for Novo Brdo.

Upper castle and lower castle

The site has two parts. The upper castle has six towers; the eastern and western ones sit on rectangular bases and the rest are square, all within about 0.05 hectares. The only way in is from the east, because on every other side the hill falls away almost sheer to the valley. To the east the ground climbs gently to a smaller hill, a plateau below which lie the ruins of a large cathedral-style church.

That church is Artana cathedral, from the 15th century, which became a mosque in 1466. I go into more detail on the Novo Brdo municipality page, along with the Saxon church.

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Protection and visiting

The Ministry has given the fortress permanent protection since 1948, and the 2008 Law 03/L-039 protects the whole medieval town of Novo Brdo as a Special Zone. The database also records temporary protection orders in 2011, 2012 and 2021, and notes that the castle kept a defensive role through several different periods. Official practical details are missing, with no opening hours, tickets or access rules anywhere I looked, and I’m saying so plainly because I don’t want you turning up with the wrong expectations.

My plan would be a morning in the hills. Car or taxi from Pristina, boots, water and an extra layer in case the wind gets up at the top, a climb from the east to the towers, down to the cathedral and, with energy to spare, the kilometre to the Saxon church. It features among my day trips from Pristina; castle collectors will find the others in castles and fortresses in Kosovo.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Novo Brdo Fortress and pick one that fits your day.

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