Vranduk Fortress

Vranduk Fortress is a medieval gem on a steep hill above the Bosna River, about ten kilometres downstream from Zenica, where the valley narrows into a picturesque gorge. Built at the end of the 14th century, it was first a ban's town and later a royal town — one of the most important fortresses of the medieval Bosnian state. Within its walls, Bosnian kings received envoys, signed treaties and issued charters, and King Tomaš paid it special attention.

For centuries Vranduk was reckoned almost impregnable; in more than six hundred years only the Ottomans managed to take it, in 1463. It still keeps its original forms – the main tower, a smaller tower, a bailey with a cistern and well, and the ramparts – and beside it stands the old Fatih Mosque. Today Vranduk has been carefully restored and turned into a museum with two exhibitions, and as a national monument it brings to life the world of medieval and Ottoman Bosnia.