Klobuk Fortress
Description
On the steep cliffs that drop vertically toward the Sušica River, 30 kilometers from Trebinje, the walls of Klobuk stand proudly. This most impressive medieval fortress town has defied time for more than a millennium, and its existence was recorded as early as by the Byzantine Emperor Porphyrogenitus. Because of its inaccessible location, the town can still be approached only from the western side.
Although it was damaged in 1878 during the Austrian advance, Klobuk retained its mystical appeal. It has been declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is an essential stop for anyone traveling from Trebinje to Nikšić. A visit to these crumbling walls offers an incredible view and an authentic encounter with the turbulent past of Herzegovina.
History and strategic position
For centuries, Klobuk was one of the most important strategic points in eastern Herzegovina. Set on the cliffs above the Sušica stream, with access possible from only one side, it was almost impregnable under the warfare conditions of the time — and so it was held in turn by all the most powerful forces in the region: the Nemanjić dynasty, Bosnian nobility, the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans kept a permanent garrison there for four hundred years, from 1477 to 1878. That final Austro-Hungarian siege, in which the garrison fought fiercely, also marked the end of the fortress’s military life — after capturing it, the Austro-Hungarians destroyed and looted it.
Klobuk today and film
The remains of Klobuk, towers up to six meters high and fragments of the walls, have not been conserved or restored since the last destruction. What you see today is an authentic ruin — without tourist infrastructure, without interpretation boards, without a maintained path. It was precisely this rawness that attracted Emir Kusturica, who filmed key scenes of his movie "On the Milky Road" with Monica Bellucci in the lead female role in Klobuk.
A place that has been a stage for history for centuries has also become a film set — and that context makes a visit to Klobuk a unique experience.
