A Croatian fortification of the ličko-krbavska great lords, once the lords of Novigrad, dominates the town from the steep hill.
Constructed on a hill-fort from the Illyrian period (2,000-1,000 B.C.), at the beginning of the 13th century, there was a renewed Roman tower on that same spot, and it was called Castrum Novum (out of which derives the first name of Novigrad).
At the end of the 13th century (1282), the ličko-krbavska lords Gusići – Kurjakovići thoroughly reconstructed the fortress to protect their property in and around Novigrad.
In 1386 the Hungaro-Croatian Queen Mary and her mother Elizabeth, a widow of the Hungaro-Croatian king Ludovic I of Anjou and daughter of the Bosnian Ban Stjepan II Kotomanić, were imprisoned there.
When the Venetians took over Novigrad in 1409, the fortress was reinforced and expanded, transforming it into a castle.
The fortification was almost impregnable for 150 years, from the beginning of the 16th century to the mid-17th century.
However, the Turks succeeded in conquering it in 1646 but only managed to keep it under their rule for nine months when it was again liberated. The fortress was last restored in 1708 and abandoned after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
