In the 18th and 19th centuries, Belgrade stretched between the rivers Sava and Danube and was protected by a deep ditch and palisades.

Located in front of Kalemegdan, the actual city of Belgrade, it included the present-day urban neighbourhoods of Savski Venac, Stari grad and Dorćol.

The Stambol Gate stood on the square in front of the present-day National Theatre, near the present monument to Prince Mihailo Obrenović on the present Republic Square in the city centre.

It stood in front of a simple green area where two paths forked to the Terazije and Tašmajdan.

When Feldmarschall Ernst Gideon von Laudon captured Belgrade for the Austrians in 1789, he removed the plaque of Sultan Mehmed I that was there and brought it to Vienna, where it still adorns his grave in the Vienna Woods today, along with other military plaques.