page_title: Tvrđa
section_title: Medieval and Ottoman eras
hierarchical_section_title: Tvrđa / History / Medieval and Ottoman eras
caption_attribution_description: Old town (Tvrđa)
context_page_description: Tvrđa is the old town of the city of Osijek in Croatia. It is the best-preserved and largest ensemble of Baroque buildings in Croatia and consists of a Habsburg star fort built on the right bank of the River Drava. Tvrđa has been described by the World Monuments Fund as "a unique example of an eighteenth-century baroque military, administrative, and commercial urban center".
  The star fort was constructed in the immediate vicinity of medieval Osijek after the defeat of the Ottoman forces in 1687, due to Osijek's strategic importance. Constructed starting in 1712 to plans by Mathias von Kaiserfeld and then Maximilian Gosseau de Henef, all five planned bastions and two gates were complete by 1715. By 1735, the inner town was finished and three northern bastions had been added. When complete, it was the largest and most advanced Habsburg fortress on the border with the Ottoman Empire, consisting of eight bastions and featuring armories, depots, a garrison headquarters, military court, construction office, a garrison physician, guardhouse, officers' apartments, a military hospital and seven barracks.
context_section_description: The new name of Osijek first appeared in 1196. The center of medieval Osijek was on the banks of the River Drava where Tvrđa now stands. The town was a trade and port settlement from the early 12th century due to its position on the way from Pécs and Buda southwards. The site was home to the Romanesque church of the Holy Trinity. Between 1526 and 1687 Osijek was ruled by the Ottomans, who did not change the layout of the settlement in any substantial way but introduced Islamic places of worship, giving the area an Oriental appearance. Traces of medieval and Ottoman towns remain to this day, including a remnant of the old Ottoman fortress wall, known today as the "Turkish Wall" (Turski zid) or "Filibey's Fort" (Filibejeva utvrda), lying next to the Tvrđa access road.
  During the Ottoman period, Osijek was internationally known because of the Suleiman Bridge. The construction of the bridge was begun by İbrahim Pasha on 16 August 1526 following the orders of Suleiman the Magnificent. The bridge, which connected Osijek and Darda, took the form of a wooden road on piers and was approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long and 6 metres (20 ft) wide. Seen as a great threat to Christian Europe the bridge was attacked several times, being destroyed in 1664, when it was set on fire on the orders of Croatian feudal lord Nicholas VII of Zrin (Croatian: Nikola VII. Zrinski, Hungarian: VII. Zrínyi Miklós). The bridge was rebuilt during the rule of Suleiman II. Finally, it was burned down by the Habsburg armies in 1686.
caption: Tvrđa viewed from across the River Drava (possible location of the former Suleiman Bridge).
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