UNESCO protected site

St. Nicholas' Fortress (Croatian: Tvrđava Sv. Nikole) is a fortress located in the town of Šibenik, one of the oldest native Croatian towns on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, in central Dalmatia, Croatia.

It was included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as part of "Venetian Works of Defence between 15th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da mar" in 2017.[1]

Tourists are currently not allowed to enter the fortress, but only explore it from outside. The reason is that the fortress is currently being reconstructed. The reconstruction should be finished till the end of 2018.
The town of Šibenik has a fortification system consisting of four fortresses:

St. Nicholas' Fortress (Tvrđava Sv. Nikole)
St. Michael's Fortress (Tvrđava Sv. Mihovila)
St. John's Fortress (Tvrđava Sv. Ivana)
Barone Fortress (Tvrđava Barone)
Only St. Nicholas' Fortress is at sea, at the entrance to the Šibenik port, and the remaining three are on land.

St. Nicholas' Fortress was built on the left side at the entrance to St. Anthony Channel (kanal sv. Ante), on the island called Ljuljevac. The island is situated at the entrance to the Šibenik channel across the Jadrija beach lighthouse. St. Nicholas' Fortress got its name from the Benedictine Monastery of St. Nicholas, which was originally on the island, but due to the construction of the fortress, it had to be demolished. At the request of domestic Croat population of Šibenik, the Venetian captain Alojzije de Canal decided to build a fort on the island of Ljuljevac on 30 April 1525. The fortress was designed and built by the famous Venetian architect and builder Hyeronimus di San Michaela. It was built by in the 16th century to prevent Turkish boats from reaching the port. St. Nicholas' Fortress was armed with 32 cannons. However, its imposing appearance and size were a bigger threat to the enemy than cannons ever were.

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