Brod Fortress

The Fortress of Brod, in Slavonski Brod, is one of the largest 18th-century fortresses on the old Habsburg Military Frontier, the line of garrisons that faced the Ottoman Empire for more than two centuries. Built between 1715 and the 1780s, it is a classic low-profile, star-shaped artillery fortress of the Vauban type, with brick and earth ramparts designed to absorb cannon fire rather than tower above it.

The fortress sat on the Sava river, which was then the border with the Ottoman Empire, and its job was to guard the river crossing and the road into the Slavonian interior. It is on the UNESCO tentative list as part of a wider nomination of the Military Frontier heritage, and after a long period of military and industrial use it has been restored as a cultural centre, with events, exhibitions and a concert space inside the ramparts.

Compared with the coastal sights, Brod Fortress gets few foreign visitors, which is part of its appeal. The walk around the ramparts gives a clear sense of the scale of the old frontier system.

For photographers, the star-shaped plan reads best from above or from across the Sava. Pair it with the baroque old town of Slavonski Brod and a trip along the Slavonian wine and wetland country.

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