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Baba Vida

Baba Vida

Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis from Paleo Faliro, Athens, Greece. · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Vidin, Bulgaria
Client / Owner
—
Year
Completed 10th century
Access
Tickets required
Typology
Cultural
Style
—

Baba Vida is a medieval castle in Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria, and the citadel of the town's main fortress. Construction began in the 10th century on the site of the Roman castellum Bononia. It has two concentric curtain walls and about nine towers, three of which are preserved to their full medieval height with the original battlements.

Legend says it was built by Vida, the eldest daughter of a Danubian Bulgarian king, and it is named "Granny Vida." It withstood an eight-month siege by Byzantine forces under Basil II. Tsar Ivan Stratsimir, whose capital was Vidin, enlarged and modernized it.

The Ottomans took Vidin in the late 14th century. They used the castle as a weapon warehouse, a prison and the residence of Osman Pazvantoğlu. It has not been used for defense since the end of the 18th century, and it is now a museum.

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