Nutjak Fortress

Croatian history is full of figures next to whom Hollywood film heroes are little babies. Heroes such as Petar Berislavić, Petar Kružić or Žarko Dražojević look, by today’s standards, like superheroes from Marvel comics. The last of these was the owner of the Nutjak fortress, which he had built at the end of the 15th century on a cliff on the right side of the Cetina canyon, a few kilometres south of Trilj.

Žarko Dražojević was a Poljica count of a very distinctive character. He undertook many military campaigns against the Turks, penetrating deep into the areas under their rule, from Livno through Herzegovina all the way to the Makarska coast, often barely escaping with his life.

Nutjak was just one of the fortresses under his control, and a legend is also tied to it.

Namely, ravens nested in the battlements of the fortress. Žarko fed them the raw meat that he himself consumed every time he returned from one of his victories. The ravens were trained, and by circling and croaking they warned of the arrival of strangers.

The fame of Žarko’s campaigns spread far and wide, so that he was favoured by both the Pope and the Venetians. The Venetian Senate appointed him a knight on three occasions, and in 1500 he sat in the Senate alongside the Doge. In 1508 he set out from Klis to the aid of besieged Sinj. The Turks sent janissaries who set an ambush for him behind Mosor. At one point Žarko tried to summon the ravens with a whistle, but without success. Instead of them, the janissaries appeared. In the heat of battle, outnumbered, he was mortally wounded and struck down. As he lay dying, realising that some traitor in the Nutjak tower had evidently prevented the ravens from flying out and warning him of the ambush, he cursed the garrison of Nutjak. A few years later the curse caught up with Nutjak when the Turks destroyed it and killed the entire garrison. The people tell that, to this very day, every year on 15 January, two ravens from Mosor fly around Nutjak and with their croaking greet their tragically fallen master.

How great the respect for Dražojević was is shown by the fact that the Turks handed over his body to their enemies with honours, and that he was buried in the Cathedral of St. Domnius in Split with an epitaph by Marko Marulić which, like that of some ancient Roman general, calls him “Dalmaticus” (Ad Xarcus Draxojevium Dalmaticum).

Today the fortress is a protected cultural monument, and access to it is easy. From the main road that leads from Trilj towards Bisko, turn left onto a gravel track. You can leave the car right there, or continue along the track for about another 500 m, from where a goat path 170 m long leads off to the left up to the fortress itself.

The view from the fortress is fantastic. It stretches through the Cetina canyon in both directions. The place is imbued with the spirit of bygone times and prompts reflection. How many people throughout history, through their heroism, contributed to our inheriting what we so often take for granted.