Antemurale Christianitatis

In the 15th century Pope Pius II, admiring the Ottoman–Albanian Wars waged mainly by Skanderbeg, defined Albania as Italy's bastion of Christianity (Latin: Antemurale Christianitatis Italiaeque).

In the following year, German Parliament in Nuremberg called Croatia Zwingermaurer (Fortress) and the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg said that "chivalrous Christian nation of Croats is standing as a shield in front of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and the whole of Central Europe and Western Christendom."

[8][7] Krsto Frankopan stated on July 1, 1523 in the memorial to the Pope Adrian VI that Croatia is a "bulwark or door of Christianity, and especially bordering countries of Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, Friuli, and Italy".

[8] Croatian baroque poet Vladislav Mencetić wrote in 1665: Italy would have sunk into the deep waves from slavery if the Ottoman sea hasn't been streaking into the Croatian seashore.An early use of the "wall" metaphor to describe Poland occurs in a letter dated 10 March 1241 from Landgrave Henry Raspe to Duke Henry II of Brabant during the first Mongol invasion of Poland, when the invaders were threatening the Holy Roman Empire.

Te deums rang out in praise of Tepes’s victories, and the inability of Mehmed’s army to cross Wallachia into Central Europe saved a great many cities and countries from being conquered themselves.

Ferdo Quiquerez , Antemurale Christianitatis (1892)- Croatia is portrayed in a form of a woman that holds a sword and a shield in the form of the Croatian coat of Arms . She stands at the entrance of Europe and guards it from the Turks. Behind her the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica and, among others, Galileo Galilei and Dante Alighieri can be seen.