BEAUTIFUL SERBIA! A scene from Soko-Grad, a stronghold of a Bogumil which was sieged by great Prince Stefan Nemanja (PHOTO)
The fortress located near Sokobanja attracted insurgents during the Middle Ages as a magnet, and therefore it was a place of many battles and the victim of numerous devastation. Today, when we stand beneath its collapsed walls, we can almost hear the clatter of Serbian weapons and the exchange of insults between the Bogumils in the mountains up and Nemanja's Orthodox warriors that siege it
"Once upon a time, a great lord of Soko-grad, rode the valley. All of a sudden, the skies turned dark over Ozren mountain, the lightning stroke from the Ostra Cuka, and the thunder roared and the earth trembled, all the way to the Siljak on tall Rtanj. The startled horse jumped, the rider fell and lost conscious.
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When the lord of Soko-Grad came to, it seemed to him that his bones were all broken, he couldn't move anywhere. He laid there and waited for death. Suddenly, he heard the running water. Slowly and painfully, he rose, at least not to leave this world thirsty. The mind suddenly became clear with the Lord who took the sip of water from the unknown spring.
When the lord of the solid Soko-Grad saw that, he took a bath in his royal suit, he became healthy right away and he returned to the city. He ordered immediately to build a house over the spring.
The word spread quickly around the world about the healing water. Everybody came to the source whose life was hanging on the balance who searched for the cure for their sickness. Many became healthy in the basin between Ozren and Rtanj. And those who were sick the most have raised their homes there".
That is the legend how Sokobanja was created, and next to it is Soko-grad, where the unnamed lord returned when he drank the water from the source. And the fortress itself was built during the time of the Roman emperor Justinian, according to the historical data, with the aim to prevent the invading barbarians.
Many centuries later, the city was conquered by the great lord Stefan Nemanja, who had to siege Soko-city once again, after the National Assembly in 1185 when the decision was made perform expulsion of all Bogumils out of the country.
Namely, the major of Soko-grad turned out to te Bogumil, as well as the number of other noblemen across Serbia.
It seemed as if Soko Grad attracted the rebels with some kind of magnetism: It was chaired by rebel Hamza-beg at the beginning of 1413m and the fortress was destroyed again after the Musa attack, the son of Bayezid, who was fighting for the throne with the brothers Suleiman and Mehmed.
Mehmed finally won the battle at Camorl, on Jully 5th 1413, thanks to the support of the Serbian future Despot Djurad Brankovic, the nephew of current Despot Stefan Lazarevic. After that, the fortress wasn't rebuilt.