The Enisala Fortress

Close to Enisala village, there is the fortress of the same name, in the North of Dobrudja, near Lake Razim, very close both to the Danube Delta and to Gura Portitei, where the river flows into the Black Sea.

Christine Leșcu, 24.08.2013, 12:00

The name of the village and of the fortress comes from an old combination of Turkish words: Yeni-Sale, meaning “new village”. In the past, there was a settlement in the area called “new village”. The medieval Enisala fortress lies on top of a hill where you can have a bird’s eye view of the entire area as far as the sea. Actually, that is why the fortress was built.

More details from Aurel Stanica, an archaeologist at the Ecomuseum Research Institute in Tulcea: “Who built the fortress? That is a question which researchers have tried to answer over time. Following archaeological research and from historical sources, we can say that the Enisala Fortress was built in the second half of the 14th century by an authority for the control of navigation in the Northern area by Lake Razim. Connecting the lake with the sea and the Danube through two canals was one of the objectives of those who built the fortress. Who built it and who had the material means to do it are topics still under discussion. But we know that in the 14th century and even in the 13th century trade in the Black Sea area was controlled by Genoese merchants holding the commercial monopoly over adjacent areas too. They also had the means to build a fortification the size of the Enisala fortress, with Oriental and even Western architectural elements.”

So, the Genoese may have built the Enisala fortress. Apparently, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the area lay at the junction of major commercial routes. The archaeological finds on the fortress premises as well as in the localities nearby testify to that, for instance through the Nicaea and Faenza pots discovered there. The fortress was inhabited.

Archaeologist Aurel Stanica: “The fortress was not big but it could accommodate around 200-300 soldiers, that is quite a strong garrison. It is a trapezoidal structure stretching over some 3000 square metres. Compared with other older fortresses from the Roman period, it was a small fortress. But given the purposes for which it was built, it was OK. Furthermore, it stood on a limy hill at a fairly high altitude, like an eagles’ nest. People within the fortress could see the boats coming from the Black Sea through Gura Portitei to Lake Razim. There was also a fairly strong rural community close to the fortress. The research conducted in April and May this year revealed the existence of a medieval village with a cosmopolitan population, a mix of Christians and people whose funeral rite was different from the Christian one. That shows that the Tatars controlling the Northern part of Dobrudja at the time lived in the village at the foot of the Enisala Fortress.”

Around 1386, when Mircea the Old was the ruler of Wallachia, Northern Dobrudja, including the Enisala fortress, was integrated into that principality.

We’ll find out what happened after that from Aurel Stanica: “Mircea the Old had the Enisala Fortress and the Isaccea Fortress rebuilt, because these fortresses were key to controlling navigation and trade in Northern Dobrudja. Around 1419-1420 Dobrudja was conquered by the Ottomans but apparently, Enisala was not integrated into the Ottoman administrative system yet. That happened much later, in 1484, when Chilia and Cetatea Alba were conquered. It was then that the Enisala fortress was annexed to the Ottoman province of Dobrudja, whose capital was in Babadag. In the early 17th century, the fortress was abandoned. It was mentioned in the reports of foreign travelers crossing the area as a place where shepherds had their temporary shelter. The first archaeological excavations at the Enisala site started in 1939 and went on with interruptions in the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1991, a research and restoration project was initiated, which was carried out until 1997.”

Though only partially restored, last year the fortress was visited by over 16,000 tourists, which makes it the most popular historical site that the Ecomuseum Research Institute in Tulcea is in charge of.