The fort is situated in South of Silistra and it is the most preserved of the six strengthening points of the defense system of the city, which plays an important role during Russian-Turkish wars in 1853-1856 an 1877-1878. The idea for the construction of this system of military defenses is of a German military engineer Heinrich von Moltke (later head of the German army headquarters), who visited Silistra in 1837.
The fortress is built during the period 1841 during the period 1841-1853. For its construction is used the forced labor of 300 Bulgarians. The main masters are from Dryanovo and the stonemasons are from the region of Silistra. During the fortress’s building, they build also the first monolithic renaissance temples in Silistra’s region – in Alfatar (1846) and in Kalipterovo (1847). In 1847 the fortress is visited by Sultan Abdul Medji and it’s the reason for the name of the fortress – “Medjidi Tabia”
The fortress wall has a hexaconal form and it reaches a height of 8 m. Immediately in front of it there is a moat, used as an obstacle and as a camouflage simultaneously. The Russian attack the fortress in 1853. In the participates the genial Russian writer Lev Tolstoy.
Photography: Nikolay Dimitrov