#: locale=en
## Action
### URL
WebFrame_22F9EEFF_0C1A_2293_4165_411D4444EFEA.url = https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d1282.0526532009744!2d22.62977242492536!3d41.43234950962493!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x14a9fe0663c3cbb3%3A0xaa6dfc1009c47aca!2sStrumica%20Fortress!5e1!3m2!1sen!2smk!4v1698154695653!5m2!1sen!2smk
WebFrame_22F9EEFF_0C1A_2293_4165_411D4444EFEA_mobile.url = https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d1282.0526532009744!2d22.62977242492536!3d41.43234950962493!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x14a9fe0663c3cbb3%3A0xaa6dfc1009c47aca!2sStrumica%20Fortress!5e1!3m2!1sen!2smk!4v1698154695653!5m2!1sen!2smk
## Media
### Title
panorama_6E94FE46_6190_701A_41D7_EA9B2171B548.label = 0
panorama_6C3C620B_6170_702A_41B1_ADF704B4DED6.label = 1
panorama_6DA82DFE_6170_F3EA_41C2_F840C96639BA.label = 10
panorama_6DA835D6_6170_D03A_41D3_55E7E4C8C899.label = 11
panorama_6DA83DD7_6170_D03A_41A4_309FB6D27870.label = 12
panorama_6DA815D1_6170_B036_41D8_4ABC30B3B804.label = 13
panorama_6DA79DDC_6170_B02E_41B9_83C63662CBB9.label = 14
panorama_6DA7857A_6170_50EA_41D1_B66AADDEB0ED.label = 15
panorama_6DA7ACEF_6170_51EB_41D5_ED7702732066.label = 16
panorama_6DA774FA_6170_71EA_41C0_952919A9C1F9.label = 17
panorama_6DA6EC97_6170_703A_41D5_5A5698BAE12D.label = 18
panorama_6DA76490_6170_5036_41C2_8D1993EF9F04.label = 19
panorama_6DAA2A1F_6170_702A_41D4_52408BEC888E.label = 2
panorama_6DA73C1E_6170_502D_41B4_046023C09DD5.label = 20
panorama_6D58D391_618F_B036_41CE_19C7F2C22F0D.label = 21
panorama_6D594B94_618F_B03E_41BD_BD65D67BDFB6.label = 22
panorama_6D593300_618F_D016_41D5_EF1FF9FBE944.label = 23
panorama_6D598AF9_618F_D1F7_4188_F208EA845A33.label = 24
panorama_6D59B2FC_618F_F1EE_41A7_125108961087.label = 25
panorama_6D59DB48_618F_F016_41B2_81BEA62885CE.label = 26
panorama_6D59C364_618F_D01E_4192_0F1A7B85BDCF.label = 27
panorama_6D5A2B3D_618F_D06E_41D3_C2B76BFAEF9D.label = 28
panorama_6D5A72C1_618F_B016_41D5_0389FC719B7C.label = 29
panorama_6DA9E323_6170_501A_41A1_CD7CA55B1878.label = 3
panorama_6D5ACA78_618F_B0F6_41D6_CF36E8951266.label = 30
panorama_6D5A2272_6190_50FA_41B6_A6CCB20F5C08.label = 31
panorama_6D5AEA20_6190_5016_41CA_870D8F3E3F5C.label = 32
panorama_6D5AB1BF_6190_706A_41D7_3848B3BD4986.label = 33
panorama_6DA9FB46_6170_501A_41BA_668107B46967.label = 4
panorama_6DA9F341_6170_B016_41B5_7506D8CA584C.label = 5
panorama_6DA94B7D_6170_B0EE_41A6_A27E39603EC4.label = 6
panorama_6DA9236E_6170_D0EA_41D0_2BD00D49970D.label = 7
panorama_6DA8AC05_6170_D01E_41D5_44CBBEBFE95C.label = 8
panorama_6DA88509_6170_F016_41D2_10DA0F2EADBB.label = 9
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB.label = Photo Album а1
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_0.label = а1
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_1.label = а2
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_2.label = а2-1
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_3.label = а3
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_4.label = а4
album_49754DAD_6190_6F50_41CC_9DBB94D353FB_5.label = а5
## Popup
### Body
htmlText_739373F3_6205_F044_41C5_0121B46ABFCA.html = The defense tower - Pyrg (in French, that is, in Norman: "donjon" - donjon) is located on the highest point of the plateau and is placed on a spire. The tower, which had at least 2-3 floors, functioned as the management center of the defense, and at the same time it was also the courtyard of the elders of the fortress. In its interior were the chambers, and in the basement rooms there is a water tank with a capacity of 270 m³. The cistern was semicircularly vaulted and covered the entire interior of the tower. Atmospheric water was conducted through ceramic pipes from the roof to the cistern.
___
Tsar’s Towers
Strumica
The oldest layers of the Tsar’s Kuli site date back to the first half of the 5th millennium BC. AD, that is, the Chalcolithic - the Copper Age. It was then that the first terraced settlement emerged on the southeastern slope of the hill, i.e. on a strategically selected inaccessible terrain that suffered during some of the turbulent times in the middle of the 5th millennium. During this period, terraces were leveled on the slopes, on which dwellings were built, in which smaller communities - clans - probably lived.
The life of the area of the Tsar's Towers continued during the Middle Bronze Age, when a new settlement was built above the settlement from the early Chalcolithic, located on almost the same terraces with an identical way of extending the dwellings, in two phases. The first, older phase, is from the transitional period, that is, the very beginning, while the second, younger phase, is from the middle of the Middle Bronze Age.
Towards the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century BC. Tsar's Towers again receives a new impulse in the settlement, a period from which five larger pits with a circular base were discovered, in which exceptional material from the Macedonian classical period, i.e. the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was found. These are pits dug into the mica rock at the top of the hill and placed in an east-west direction, in which pottery of local origin, but also black-fired ceramics and some forms of vessels that are mostly associated with the Attic workshops, coins, weapons, objects used in everyday life and jewelry... From this period, disturbed remains of at least one burial from the 4th century BC were found in the area of the Tsar's Towers.
During the Macedonian-Hellenistic period, the activities of the Tsar's Towers site suddenly gained in intensity. In that period, we probably already have some kind of organized life on the plateau, and several graves have been found in which a bi-ritual way of burial was represented, i.e. with cremation and inhumation.
After the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans in 148 e.g. AD the life of Tsar's Towers continues but with somewhat less intensity. Only in the first years after the conquest was the activity unabated, and later it significantly decreased. It is most likely due to the invasion of the Celtic tribes Skordisci from the north who for a long time, towards the end of the 2nd century BC. AD, ravaged these parts. The same intensity continues during the 1st century during the time of the Roman Empire, while in the 2nd-3rd centuries we still have some activity, but it continues to be of reduced intensity, and towards the end of the 3rd century these parts were devastated by the Goth-Herule infestation.
Towards the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century, the city of Strumica (Tiveriopolis) together with the Tsar's Towers fortress was a well-fortified city, probably thanks to the activities undertaken by Diocletian or Constantine.
After the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th century, the Strumica area was inhabited by the Slavic tribes Strumjani or Strymonci, most likely in the beginning of the 7th century. They Slavicized the name Astraion or Estreon in Strumica, and the life of the late antique fortress almost died out.
It wasn't until the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century that the medieval fortress was erected above Strumica, when the first outlines of today's Tsar's Towers appear. The fortress was built with all its accompanying elements: the central tower - Pirg, ramparts around the entire plateau, defensive towers, water cisterns, granaries, living facilities, stables, forges and a medieval church. This is most likely due to the building activity of the Byzantine emperors from the line of the Komnenos (1081-1185), prompted by the danger of the arrival of the Crusaders and the Normans.
After the conquest of Strumica by the Ottomans, the position of the fortress changed significantly, because it remained deep in the territory and had almost no defensive significance. However, it seems that towards the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century it still had its defensive character. The last reports about the fortress are from the 17th century. Judging by Evlija Celebi's description, the fortress was abandoned a long time ago and has already begun to crumble.
___
Tsar’s Towers
Strumica
The Tsar’s Towers are in a dominant position south of the city of Strumica, at a high altitude of about 450 m. and reports as a witness to the eras that marked the historical events of these areas. The fortress has an elongated base and stretches 210 m in the east-west direction and about 80 m in the north-south direction
Tsar’s Towers
Strumica
The oldest layers of the Tsar’s Kuli site date back to the first half of the 5th millennium BC. AD, that is, the Chalcolithic - the Copper Age. It was then that the first terraced settlement emerged on the southeastern slope of the hill, i.e. on a strategically selected inaccessible terrain that suffered during some of the turbulent times in the middle of the 5th millennium. During this period, terraces were leveled on the slopes, on which dwellings were built, in which smaller communities - clans - probably lived.
The life of the area of the Tsar's Towers continued during the Middle Bronze Age, when a new settlement was built above the settlement from the early Chalcolithic, located on almost the same terraces with an identical way of extending the dwellings, in two phases. The first, older phase, is from the transitional period, that is, the very beginning, while the second, younger phase, is from the middle of the Middle Bronze Age.
Towards the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century BC. Tsar's Towers again receives a new impulse in the settlement, a period from which five larger pits with a circular base were discovered, in which exceptional material from the Macedonian classical period, i.e. the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was found. These are pits dug into the mica rock at the top of the hill and placed in an east-west direction, in which pottery of local origin, but also black-fired ceramics and some forms of vessels that are mostly associated with the Attic workshops, coins, weapons, objects used in everyday life and jewelry... From this period, disturbed remains of at least one burial from the 4th century BC were found in the area of the Tsar's Towers.
During the Macedonian-Hellenistic period, the activities of the Tsar's Towers site suddenly gained in intensity. In that period, we probably already have some kind of organized life on the plateau, and several graves have been found in which a bi-ritual way of burial was represented, i.e. with cremation and inhumation.
After the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans in 148 e.g. AD the life of Tsar's Towers continues but with somewhat less intensity. Only in the first years after the conquest was the activity unabated, and later it significantly decreased. It is most likely due to the invasion of the Celtic tribes Skordisci from the north who for a long time, towards the end of the 2nd century BC. AD, ravaged these parts. The same intensity continues during the 1st century during the time of the Roman Empire, while in the 2nd-3rd centuries we still have some activity, but it continues to be of reduced intensity, and towards the end of the 3rd century these parts were devastated by the Goth-Herule infestation.
Towards the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century, the city of Strumica (Tiveriopolis) together with the Tsar's Towers fortress was a well-fortified city, probably thanks to the activities undertaken by Diocletian or Constantine.
After the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th century, the Strumica area was inhabited by the Slavic tribes Strumjani or Strymonci, most likely in the beginning of the 7th century. They Slavicized the name Astraion or Estreon in Strumica, and the life of the late antique fortress almost died out.
It wasn't until the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century that the medieval fortress was erected above Strumica, when the first outlines of today's Tsar's Towers appear. The fortress was built with all its accompanying elements: the central tower - Pirg, ramparts around the entire plateau, defensive towers, water cisterns, granaries, living facilities, stables, forges and a medieval church. This is most likely due to the building activity of the Byzantine emperors from the line of the Komnenos (1081-1185), prompted by the danger of the arrival of the Crusaders and the Normans.
After the conquest of Strumica by the Ottomans, the position of the fortress changed significantly, because it remained deep in the territory and had almost no defensive significance. However, it seems that towards the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century it still had its defensive character. The last reports about the fortress are from the 17th century. Judging by Evlija Celebi's description, the fortress was abandoned a long time ago and has already begun to crumble.
Tsar’s Towers
Strumica
The Tsar’s Towers are in a dominant position south of the city of Strumica, at a high altitude of about 450 m. and reports as a witness to the eras that marked the historical events of these areas. The fortress has an elongated base and stretches 210 m in the east-west direction and about 80 m in the north-south direction