Kurvingrad

[1] The ruins are all that remain of the medieval town of Koprijan from the time of Classical antiquity; the fortress is over a thousand years old.

He also built a number of castles, so that the population had a place of refuge in case of a barbarian attack on the Danube.

The document of the Peace of Szeged in 1444 mentions Koperhamum and Procopius, suggesting that Kompolos must have been on the site of the present-day Kurvingrad.

During World War I, the site was used by the German command in their defensive front against the Serbian army which was moving rapidly, advancing to the north in October 1918.

On the pillar in the fourth row (width 16cm) there is written in the Serbian Church Slavonic, Cyrillic alphabet with letters 3cm in size, the following: "Аз Ненад, син казнаца Богдана, сазидах си град Копријан годо...ва дни благовернаго господина ми кнеза лазара ва лето…"[3] (Vlastelin Nenad, son of Kaznac Bogdan, built the city of Koprijan in the days of your glory, my Lord Prince Lazar in the year ...") The inscription was slightly damaged on the edges, so it is not very clear whether this year as preserved is the 6880 years, or it is 1372 years of the old Serbian calendar which coincides with the reign of Knez Lazar.

Koprijan likely shared the fate of most other Serbian medieval towns, which were robbed, burned and destroyed, and then used to build Turkish military bases.

It is not certain whether the medieval Koprijan is actually today the site of Kurvingrad, or whether the Byzantine fortress near Nis was Calis, and then incorrectly spelled as Komplos.

According to one legend, during the fortress's siege, a certain immoral lady from the village came out at night while people were sleeping, and opened the town's gate for the enemy.

According to another, more commonly held legend, a wealthy lady from the town loved to make nighttime visits to nearby Monastery of St. John at Orljane [sr] allegedly for prayer, but actually for the romantic relations with the priest.

The fort has an irregular square base, 80 × 50 meters, with ramparts and reinforced towers which surrounded the dry trench.

On the highest part of the hill, along the eastern rampart, is located a small town in which the end is a tower, which rises above the main city gate.

During archaeological excavations in year 1933, the foundations of the church built in the Moravian style were found in the village below the fort.

The floor of the church was built from rough mosaic, and the other parts derived from alternating tiles; white marble and green stone with dimensions of 20 x 20m.

In the past, residents of surrounding villages destroyed the remains of the fort, and used many of its stones to build their own homes.

Kurvingrad
Koprijan