Vranja Fortress

Vranja Fortress

The ruins of the fortress Vranja are located near the northwestern slopes of Učka, 11 km southeast of Lupoglav and not far from the village of the same name, on the edge of a steep cliff (296 m) near the western portal of the Učka tunnel.

There were many prehistoric forts in that area until the Roman conquest. Material remains were discovered for the Boljun, Pricejak and Orljak forts. Boljun Castle is still in the same place today, and Pricejak was right at the entrance to the Učka tunnel. Old records also mention the Galimbreg castle on the edge of the gorge where Brest pod Učkom is located, and other castles without any remains are mentioned on the road from Poklon to Planik and to the west and northeast of the village of Semić.

Vranja was a Roman and probably Byzantine fortress, and in old documents the castle was first mentioned in 1102 as Castrum Urana and it is assumed that it was built at the beginning of the 11th century. Since 1370, as Castrum Vragne, it has been in the permanent possession of the Habsburgs, who annexed it to the Principality of Pazin. Until the 15th century, the fort was rebuilt and strengthened several times to defend against the Ottomans, and it also played an important role in the Uskok war (1615-1618), when it was the base for Uskok incursions into Venetian Istria. Since approximately 1700, the castle has been a real ruin. There is really no doubt about the origin of the name, as it comes from an old Latin name, but in folklore there are assumptions that it is a consequence of the fact that it is located above a dark valley or that the stones got a black color from burning, and the latter was recorded at the beginning of the 16th century in the war between Venice and Austria. The Germans called Vranja Freim or Frein, the name Vrana is also often found, and in Italian military maps between the two world wars it was written as Aurania because the historian Pietro Kandler unfoundedly claimed that the Germans called it Goldsburg (Golden Castle) at the end of the 13th century. The most bizarre name was recorded in the eighties of the last century for the construction of the Učka tunnel, when the form of Vranje, the name of a town in southeastern Serbia, was imposed, and this name was written on the edges of the settlement along the main access roads.

The castle is located on a small plain leaning against the slopes of Učka, bounded on three sides by steep ravines through which torrents of mountain streams flowed. Judging by the modest remains and the configuration of the terrain, it had an irregular and elongated quadrangular floor plan. The northern part of the castle is best preserved, where parts of the defensive walls rise to a height of almost 3 m along the edges of the precipice and the remains of a smaller Renaissance tower with a horseshoe-shaped floor plan with pear-shaped loopholes. On the inside of the wall are the remains of former houses, which were separated from the smaller residential block. The entrance to the castle was also on the north side, and it was accessed by a narrow stone bridge over the precipice. There was also a church in the castle, of which no remains have been preserved today.

Date of visit: 26.03.2022

Sources

• Regan, K., & Nadilo, B. (2012). Utvrde Ćićarije, Kastavštine i Istarske Liburnije. Građevinar, 64(4), 336–337. http://www.casopis-gradjevinar.hr/