Rakitnica Fortress – a place where history breathes through every crack in the stone

On the way from Zadar to Šibenik, this time the road took me through Čista Mala and Gaćelez towards Vodice. And there, in the middle of water fields at the top of Crno Brdo, at the location of Kulina, the Rakitnica fort has stood defiantly for centuries.

I turned off the main road and arrived by car at the foot of the hill next to the church of St. John the Baptist, which has been there since 1445. The hot day and the swelter forced me to send a drone to the fort rather than hike to the top of the hill.

Šibenik nobles, the owners of Rakitnica, together with the villagers began the construction of the Rakitnica fort on this steep ridge above the village in 1509 in order to protect themselves from Ottoman attacks.

Throughout the 17th century, there were fierce battles for Rakitnica between the Turkish and Venetian armies, but peace did not come until 1699 when the Turks left this area.

Rakitnica fortress, Photo: Adria fun

Although well defended by soldiers, the Ottomans conquered Rakitnica in 1571 and threatened Vodice.

In the following years, the Christian army repeatedly tried to seize Rakitnica. Once it even succeeded because Rakitnica remained undefended, but the Ottomans managed to hold on to that place until the end of the Moravian War (1684-1699), when they were expelled from the territory of the Šibenik commune.

Rakitnica fortress, Photo: Adria fun

Since then, the Rakitnica fort has been left to decay because there were no longer any strategic reasons for retaining the military crew.

If your journey takes you to these parts, and it is not as hot as when I visited, I suggest you take a walk to it and see the ruins of the fort, where history breathes through every crack in the stone.