
Topana Fortress is located above the city of
Imotski, on steep cliffs between the Blue Lake and the soccer stadium, the
so-called Gospin dolac. It is of
irregular form, adapted to the natural shape of the cliff. Above the main
entrance to the fortress there is a room which was once home to Father Stipan
Vrljić, the first priest in Imotski. Immediately behind the entrance there also
stands the small church of Our Lady of Angels – the patron saint of Imotski.
The upper section of the fortress is older and probably built in the 14th
century on the site of an earlier fortification. A 9th or 10th-century gable
stone with an old Croatian wattle ornament was probably a part of this pre-existing
fortification. Alongside the western and northern walls there are preserved
residential spaces with water-wells. A part of a latrine is also preserved in
the very southwestern corner, above the cliffs of the Blue Lake. From the late
15th century until 1717 Topana Fortress was the administrative seat of the Kadija of Imotski, or the Ottoman civil
administrator and judge. The fortress was renovated and reinforced a few times
over the course of the centuries, and its name Topana is of Turkish origin and
it describes a place where cannons are kept.