The Brod Fortress, Croatia

HR-12533

This postcard arrived from Croatia yesterday. It shows The Fortress Brod, which, according to the sender, is "a remarkable monument of the 18th century, as a system of fortified towns on the frontier towards Turkish Empire". Prince Eugene of Savoy designed it at the beginning of the 18th century. The regular star-like form of the fortress was determined by the flat-country. It was built of rammed earth, bricks, wood and partially stone, and designed for the accommodation of 4,000 soldiers, mostly infantry and 150 cannons.

According to an evaluation of the Brod Fortress resistance, during the classical siege with full capacity channels, it would have taken ten days of preparation for the attacks and 46 days for the enemy to take over the entire Fortress. The Fortress of Brod occupied about 33 ha. The military government did not allow for the construction of solid material houses, due to the fact that the entire town was within the range of the fortress cannons, and consequently, throughout the entire 18 and most of the 19 century, Brod was the town of small wooden houses, roofed by shingle or board. In case of the potential Turkish attack, the town was to be leveled down, in order to provide the artillery with the open space around the fortress. Although being a military border stronghold, the Fortress almost never had the opportunity to prove and demonstrate its combative power.



I really like the stamps on this card! The one on the right is from a set of 5 stamps issued in 2008, portraying Croatian Ethnographic Heritage. This one shows Local Customs from Sunja. The stamp on the right is from a set of 3 stamps depicting Croatian Freshwater Fish, issued in 2009. This one shows the Danubian Bream.