The Yellow Fortress, which is located on the cliff of Jekovac, which is also known as Jekovacka tabija, is one of the fortifications that made up the defensive ramparts around the old town of Vratnik. The climb to the old part of the town leads to a small fort where it provides a unique experience in the panorama, view and sound. It was built in 1809 as a rough stone with seven exterior faces of 10 meters high and eight sides facing north is 27.5 meters high. On the north side there are stairs and one building for soldiers, and on the southwest side is a Muslim cemetery.
In the Middle Ages, a fortress with five tall towers was built in the most prominent area (today White Fortress). That was the reason why most of the plateau was saved from fire when Prince Eugen Savoy burned the whole city in 1697 after three days of robbery.
However, after the breakup of Eugene Savoy, it turned out that the small fortress, which was on the site of today’s White fortress are still not enough for the defense of the city, so Bosnian servant Gazi Ahmed-pasha Rustempašić Skopljak started building the rampart around Vratnik in 1729. The construction was completed in 1739, during the reign of Hekimoglu Ali Pasha, and at the end there were five bastions, three Gate Towers and five doors in the walls.
One of the bastions was built on the cliff Jekovac, which is called Jekovački bastion, but because of its yellowish color the stone was named Yellow Shark, whose construction Ahmed Pasha probably hired the Dubrovnik master builders.
In 1878, the silence of the yellow fortress guns marks the end of resistance and the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian occupation of the city. Although the Austro-Hungarian army continued to use the yellow bastion, Muslims were still permitted to shoot the cannon during Ramadan as a sign of the end of the feasting. This practice was banned in the period of Yugoslavia but was restored in 1992 and lasts until today.
The Ramadan canon on the Yellow Fortress in recent years has become a real attraction for both seniors of Sarajevo and numerous tourists coming to Yellow fortress to enjoy the fascinating view of the capital of BiH and to break the daily feast more than 17 hours, during which all meals, drinks and other bodily pleasures are abandoned.
Today the Yellow fortress is a place with a fascinating view of Sarajevo and one of the favorite Sarajevo’s viewpoints.
