Turnu Fortress: a medieval Danube stronghold in Teleorman
Turnu Fortress (Cetatea Turnu) is the ruin of a medieval stronghold on the Danube, in the south of Turnu Măgurele in Teleorman County, Romania. It was one of the fortresses Mircea the Elder raised to defend Wallachia against the Ottomans, and its round central tower gave the place its name. A restoration programme has been under way since 2018.
Medieval documents call it Little Nicopolis: a Wallachian fortress that spent much of its life in Ottoman hands and was burned and pulled down in 1829, the very year it returned to Wallachia.
The history of Turnu Fortress
Turnu belonged to the chain of fortifications that Wallachia raised along the Danube, together with Giurgiu, Turtucaia and Brăila, to hold back the Ottoman threat from the south. It is linked with the reign of Mircea the Elder. In the troubled years after 1394 the fortress was fought over: in July 1395 a Hungarian expedition led by King Sigismund of Luxembourg, which aimed to put Mircea back on the throne, managed only to capture Turnu and left a garrison there. A diploma of Sigismund from 1397 mentions the bloody fighting for “Nicopolis minor”, and this is the first written record of the fortress. It probably also played a part in the events around the Battle of Nicopolis in September 1396.
The fortress did not stay in Wallachian hands. In 1417, towards the end of Mircea’s reign and in circumstances that are still unclear, it passed to the Ottomans, who turned it into a raya, a directly ruled district attached to the sanjak of Nicopolis and placed under the pasha of Silistra. The district covered a radius of about 15 km around the tower and later included villages such as Flămânda and Măgurele. Garrisons in such places let the Ottomans watch Wallachia, and the fortress also served as a customs point on trade routes that came down from the Transylvanian towns towards Nicopolis.
For short periods the fortress changed sides. In the conflict between Vlad the Impaler and the sultan in 1462, it was briefly under Romanian rule, and the crossing of the Danube at Nicopolis and Turnu features in the accounts of that campaign. Michael the Brave retook it during the Long War, in 1594–1595, and it stayed Wallachian during his reign, but it fell back under Ottoman control after his death in 1601. In 1809 men led by Iancu Jianu destroyed it, according to the sources, because it had served as a base for raids by the pasha of Vidin.
The end came with the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829. The Treaty of Adrianople fixed the border on the Danube, and Turnu returned for good to Wallachia. On its return the fortress was burned and demolished, and the stones were used as building material by the locals and the authorities. What remains is now a listed historical monument, and since October 2018 it has been the subject of restoration and consolidation work.
Curiosities about Turnu Fortress
- The name simply means “tower”. In Ottoman sources it appears as Kule, and foreign documents up to the 16th century call it Nicopolis minor, “Little Nicopolis”, as a counterpart of the fortress of Nicopolis on the opposite bank of the Danube.
- A document of 1397–1398 gives yet another name, Holavnic, and a map by Johann Homann published in 1531 shows it as “Cholonic”.
- The central tower had a diameter of 17.4 m and walls 3 m thick. It was used to store ammunition and grain, and its roof was first covered with shingles and later with tiles.
- The fortress stood on marshy ground, with groundwater very close to the surface. This made it decay continuously and later complicated both the consolidation work and the archaeological research.
- According to a later suggestion by the archaeologist Grigore Florescu, the stone for the first phase of the fortress was brought from the old Roman camp at Oescus, on the other side of the Danube.
- A 19th-century scholar, August Treboniu Laurian, claimed that the fortress stood on the ruins of a Roman tower, and in 1869 Cezar Bolliac even took it for the Roman fortress of Romula. This identification is not accepted today.
Tours near Turnu Fortress
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
Visiting Turnu Fortress: what to see
- The site lies about 3 km south of the centre of Turnu Măgurele, near the Danube. The area is open ground rather than a built-up historic quarter.
- Look for the layout described by archaeologists: a central round tower, an irregular polygonal enclosure wall with bastions, and a defensive ditch with a counterscarp. Photographs show a well, bastion stairs and stretches of the outer wall.
- Restoration and consolidation have been going on since October 2018, so what you can see and reach may change from year to year.
- The nearest other place covered by this site, the Clock Tower of Giurgiu, is about 90 km away, so Turnu is best seen as a stop of its own on a Danube route.
- Check the current opening hours and access arrangements before you go; the sources do not give practical visiting details.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Turnu Fortress is
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Photos of Turnu Fortress
Questions
Where is Turnu Fortress?
It lies in the south of Turnu Măgurele in Teleorman County, Romania, about 3 km from the town and close to the Danube.
Why is Turnu Fortress also called Little Nicopolis?
Medieval documents refer to it as Nicopolis minor, a counterpart of the fortress of Nicopolis on the south bank of the Danube, opposite it.
Who built Turnu Fortress?
It is documented from the reign of Mircea the Elder in 1394 and formed part of the Danube defences of Wallachia. Its first written mention dates from 1397.
When did Turnu Fortress come under Ottoman rule?
It passed to the Ottomans in 1417, in circumstances that are still unclear, and became a raya. Vlad the Impaler and Michael the Brave held it only for short periods.
What happened to Turnu Fortress in 1829?
After the Treaty of Adrianople returned it to Wallachia, the fortress was burned and demolished, and its stones were reused as building material.
Is Turnu Fortress being restored?
Yes. Restoration and consolidation work began in October 2018, and the monument is on the historical monuments list of Teleorman County.
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