Petrus Medieval Fortification
The Medieval stronghold of Petrus with the Petrus region – Petruska oblast is historical area in the village of Zabrega, some 15 km north-east of Paraćin, in Central Pomoravlje region. The town of Petrus from the 14th and the 15th century was established on the pre-historical layer and makes one of the largest mountainous medieval strongholds of Serbia. The area of the medieval town of Petrus and the Petruška oblast – the Petrus region include remains of some ten medieval monuments, caves and hermitages from the 14th and the 15th century, in the wonderful canyon of Crnica River, with ruins of Beheading of Saint John Monastery, the Monastery of Holy archangels, conserved Monastery of Saint Nicholas, the church of Saint Petka, and the Church of Saint Geogre and the Church of Holy Sunday, the Djuline stone observation point, the monastic church dedicated to the Shroud of the Holy Virgin in the village of Lesje that was built along the pattern of the Russian shrines. The area of the Crnica River canyon makes the area of extraordinary natural features and beauties that attract hikers, mountaineers and curious visitors.
The archaeologists who carried out the earliest excavations in the seventies and the eighties of the 20th century at the Upper town of the Petrus stronghold, which is 300 x 150 meters in size, named it the Citadel. The next archaelogical campaigns at the Petrus locality were conducted by Marin Brmbolic in 2004 and 2005 – director of the Museum and founder of the Homeland museum collection in Paracin, whose work was continued in 2021 by research that contained the object of the east part of the Citadel, known as the Hall. This part of the locality features highly luxurious construction pattern besides the floor which was constructed from the secondary-used Roman bricks. The Hall of the Petrus fortification also had walls painted with frescoes, as well as portals and windows made from decorative stone, with the outer walls that rose over 10 meters. After excavations on the Petrus fortified locality the researchers plan to make the comparative analysis of excavated finds in the area of the hall and its close proximity. They believe that the detailed analysis of movable excavated material of the ceramics, metal and glass, as well as the frescoes and decorative stones, will provide some clearer information on the Hall and the way it was abandoned. The favorite finds from the latest excavations on the Petrus stronghold are parts of crossbow which testify on the military purpose of the Petrus fortification and the army which stayed within it, while was protecting and guarding the border of the Medieval Serbia with Medieval Bulgaria and later towards the Ottoman Empire.
