Hidden deep in the hillside of Dalmatia, just bellow the magnificent Dinara mountain, Glavas fortress (or Dinaric) is one of the most impressive fortresses from the medieval times!

It was built in the 15th century as part of the defense shield against the Turks who were becoming increasingly dangerous with their raids and military campaigns from Bosnia as this was the most important route. Kijevo area and Glavaš fortress fell into Turkish hands in 1522. Only in 1688, the entire region returns to Christian hands – and that is not necessarily a good thing – as Venice became the ruler of all of Dalmatia. Since those days, Glavaš is loosing it’s importance and it is slowly left to winds and snows of Dinara…

As it was a beautiful autumn day, we did not want to stay home and got together with wife’s cousins from split to meet in Vrlika and visit some of the beautiful sites in the area. Glavaš was, of course, high on the list and especially so since I have never been there before and have only seen some great photos. To reach Glavaš, we took right (from Split direction) to Uništa in Kijevo village and drove bellow the big church (famous St. Michael of Kijevo) all the way to Glavaš village. There is also a sign recently put to mark where this trail to Glavaš fortress begins so you basically cannot go anywhere else. The trail is clearly marked and there is also a mountain hut for those more brave who go to some other interesting parts of Dinara mountain.

Our “gang” did well up the hill and not being terribly hot definitely helped!
There is an archaeological campaign in progress in the fortress led by Knin museum and mr. sc. Katarina Gugo-Rumštajn who was quite busy while we took a look around. She told us that the next step would be to start working on the conservation of the fortress. She also explained that the fortress used to be on three floors and that most damage to it was done by the locals who, having nothing better to do, were knocking down parts of it down the cliff!

We rested and enjoyed a company of three puppies before heading down hill leaving Glavaš fortress to its birds and plants…

This amazing place definitely deserves more visitors (like so many great spots in this amazing country of ours!) So, if going from Zagreb to Split, or going from Split to Knin, make sure you take few hours to take a side road and enjoy this great place!

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