Kaptol Old Town

The center of the Kaptol settlement, only 12 km away from Požega, is dominated by a late-gothic-renaissance fort, around which the contours of a defense channel that used to be filled with water from the nearby Bistra stream can still be seen. The castle has an irregular hexagonal shape consisting of round towers and half-towers.

The entry to the fort was from the south side through the door with a drawbridge. In the Middle Ages, St. Peter’s church was inside that building, with living quarters of the canon of the Collegiate Chapter holding the same name, and the central courtyard. This was a space appropriate for the cohabitation of the members of the Chapter of monastery type. It was built at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century for protection from the Ottoman incursions which had become more and more intense.

After it had fallen into the hands of the conquerors, it became the center of new local administration inhabited by agas, and administrators of the surrounding area, and a mosque was built inside it. After the Ottomans had left this area, the west part of the walls was partly demolished, and St. George’s baroque church was built within them. The complex of the fort was habitable until the middle of the 20th century, i.e., until the Second World War, when it was damaged in an explosion during a confrontation between the warring local groups.

Today it is a subject of archeological research and conservatory works whose goal is to renovate it to its original state.