Kosovo: Novo Brdo

On the May Day public holiday last week we went for an outing in the countryside, to the town of Novo Brdo.

Novo Brdo – Serbian for ‘New Castle’ – is a Serbian-majority town about a half hour drive from Gjilan. Its namesake castle or fortress was built in the early 1300s to protect the silver mines in the region - at one point the most lucrative mines in the Serbian Kingdom, which covered most of the Balkan peninsula.

The fortress in its hey day. But those dark clouds look a bit ominous and do not bode well for its future.

The township was a hot spot for traders who regularly came from Venice and Dubrovnik to tout their wares in exchange for a bit of the famous ‘glam silver’ which, if you care to know, is silver that has a high percentage of gold in it.

I'll give you 3 of these yellow straps and my donkey for a bit of your glam silver. And an extra strap if you'll throw in that cute black dog.

The fortress was pretty solid, at one point sustaining a two-year siege from the Ottoman Empire. Phew. But ultimately it wasn’t tough enough and after a pretty grueling 40-day siege in 1455, it finally capitulated, with all the leading Serbian officials decapitated and the rest sent to work for the Ottoman Empire.

Grim!

After sacking Novo Brdo, the Ottomans conquered Belgrade the next year.

But its picturesque surrounds and pleasant atmosphere today belie its bloody past. It is a favourite spot for picnicking Kosovars and treasure hunters, apparently, who are doing the site a fair bit of damage with their regular illegal digs for buried treasure.

We didn’t know about the prospect of buried treasure when we were there, otherwise I would have packed a shovel. I’d quite fancy a pair of earrings fashioned from glam silver.