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52-709: The Zindan Gate is a middle southeastern gate, in the Danube direction. It occupies the northernmost section of fortress' Upper Town. From the southeast, it is accessed via a wooden bridge over dry moat from an "inside" direction of the Despots's Gate and People's Observatory in Dizdar's Tower. Another wooden bridge on the counter or "outside", southeast side connects it to the Leopold's Gate , Kalmegdan Terrace restaurant, and further to Belgrade Zoo and Little Kalemegdan . Just to

104-420: A trench . A tatebori ( 竪堀 , lit.   ' vertical moat ' ) is a dry moat dug into a slope. A unejo tatebori ( 畝状竪堀 , lit.   ' furrowed shape empty moat ' ) is a series of parallel trenches running up the sides of the excavated mountain, and the earthen wall, which was also called doi ( 土居 , lit.   ' earth mount ' ) , was an outer wall made of earth dug out from

156-621: A "keep", and the English term "dungeon" refers mostly to oubliette in French. Donjon is therefore a false friend to dungeon (although the game Dungeons & Dragons is titled Donjons et Dragons in its French editions). An oubliette (same origin as the French oublier , meaning "to forget" ) is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch ) in a high ceiling. The use of "donjons" evolved over time, sometimes to include prison cells, which could explain why

208-414: A basic method of pest control in bonsai , a moat may be used to restrict access of crawling insects to the bonsai. [REDACTED] Media related to Moats at Wikimedia Commons Dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from

260-686: A door in the ceiling) were built without latrines, and since the gatehouses at Alnwick and Cockermouth provided accommodation it is unlikely that the rooms would have been used to hold prisoners. An alternative explanation was proposed, suggesting that these were strong-rooms where valuables were stored. Oubliettes and dungeons were a favorite topic of nineteenth century gothic novels or historical novels , where they appeared as symbols of hidden cruelty and tyrannical power. Usually found under medieval castles or abbeys , they were used by villainous characters to persecute blameless characters. In Alexandre Dumas 's La Reine Margot , Catherine de Medici

312-657: A key element used in French Classicism and Beaux-Arts architecture dwellings, both as decorative designs and to provide discreet access for service. Excellent examples of these can be found in Newport, Rhode Island at Miramar (mansion) and The Elms , as well as at Carolands , outside of San Francisco, California, and at Union Station in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. Additionally, a dry moat can allow light and fresh air to reach basement workspaces, as for example at

364-1151: A moat. Even today it is common for mountain Japanese castles to have dry moats. A mizubori ( 水堀 , lit.   ' water moat ' ) is a moat filled with water. Moats were also used in the Forbidden City and Xi'an in China; in Vellore Fort in India; Hsinchu in Taiwan ; and in Southeast Asia, such as at Angkor Wat in Cambodia ; Mandalay in Myanmar ; Chiang Mai in Thailand and Huế in Vietnam . The only moated fort ever built in Australia

416-406: A powerful metaphor in a variety of contexts. Dungeons, as a whole, have become associated with underground complexes of cells and torture chambers. As a result, the number of true dungeons in castles is often exaggerated to interest tourists. Many chambers described as dungeons or oubliettes were in fact water-cisterns or even latrines . An example of what might be popularly termed an "oubliette"

468-734: A vertical outer retaining wall rising direct from the moat, is an extended usage of the ha-ha of English landscape gardening. In 2004, plans were suggested for a two-mile moat across the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent tunnelling from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah . In 2008, city officials in Yuma, Arizona planned to dig out a two-mile stretch of a 180-hectare (440-acre) wetland known as Hunters Hole to control immigrants coming from Mexico. Researchers of jumping spiders , which have excellent vision and adaptable tactics, built water-filled miniature moats, too wide for

520-528: A very central part of their cities, the moats have provided a vital waterway to the city. Even in modern times the moat system of the Tokyo Imperial Palace consists of a very active body of water, hosting everything from rental boats and fishing ponds to restaurants. Most modern Japanese castles have moats filled with water, but castles in the feudal period more commonly had 'dry moats' karabori ( 空堀 , lit.   ' empty moat ' ) ,

572-430: Is called a dungeon crawl . Near the beginning of Jack Vance 's high-fantasy Lyonesse Trilogy (1983–1989), King Casmir of Lyonesse commits Prince Aillas of Troicinet, who he believes to be a vagabond, to an oubliette for the crime of having seduced his daughter. After some months, the resourceful prince fashions a ladder from the bones of earlier prisoners and the rope by which he had been lowered, and escapes. In

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624-573: Is one of four entries into the Upper Town. Gate's arched entry portal is flanked with two semicircular towers, known as the Northern and Southern Tower. Behind the portal is the passage, with side corridors which lead into the towers. The base of the passage is squared, and corridors connect various levels of the towers. There is one window on both side walls, at the height of 1.25 metres (4 ft 1 in). The towers, though identical and built for

676-543: Is portrayed gloating over a victim in the oubliettes of the Louvre . Dungeons are common elements in modern fantasy literature, related tabletop , and video games . The most famous examples are the various Dungeons & Dragons media. In this context, the word "dungeon" has come to be used broadly to describe any labyrinthine complex (castle, cave system, etc) rather than a prison cell or torture chamber specifically. A role-playing game involving dungeon exploration

728-440: Is the particularly claustrophobic cell in the dungeon of Warwick Castle 's Caesar's Tower, in central England. The access hatch consists of an iron grille. Even turning around (or moving at all) would be nearly impossible in this tiny chamber. However, the tiny chamber that is described as the oubliette, is in reality a short shaft which opens up into a larger chamber with a latrine shaft entering it from above. This suggests that

780-742: The James Farley Post Office in New York City . Whilst moats are no longer a significant tool of warfare, modern architectural building design continues to use them as a defence against certain modern threats, such as terrorist attacks from car bombs and improvised fighting vehicles . For example, the new location of the Embassy of the United States in London , opened in 2018, includes a moat among its security features -

832-749: The Mississippian culture as the outer defence of some fortified villages. The remains of a 16th-century moat are still visible at the Parkin Archeological State Park in eastern Arkansas . The Maya people also used moats, for example in the city of Becan . European colonists in the Americas often built dry ditches surrounding forts built to protect important landmarks, harbours or cities (e.g. Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor ). Dry moats were

884-605: The Ottomans sultan Murad II to conquer Belgrade in 1440 , showed that gates within the fortress are among the main weak spots in defense of the city. Hungarian forces, which held the fortress at the time, walled the Upper Town's Southern Gate, and the Eastern Gate took its role. Between 1440 and 1456, both Eastern Gates (in Upper and Lower Town), were supplemented with barbicans , which also included gates - Eastern Gate II in

936-515: The Renaissance period. An oubliette (from the French oublier , meaning 'to forget') or bottle dungeon is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch ) in a high ceiling. The word dungeon comes from French donjon (also spelled dongeon ), which means " keep ", the main tower of a castle. The first recorded instance of the word in English was near

988-493: The walls . In suitable locations, they might be filled with water. A moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons such as siege towers and battering rams , which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining – digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences – very difficult as well. Segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats that cut across

1040-470: The 12th century, when they were built into gatehouses or mural towers. Some castles had larger provision for prisoners, such as the prison tower at Caernarfon Castle . Although many real dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture , along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons

1092-464: The Lower Town, and Zindan Gate in the Upper Town. The gate was built between two round towers to modernize the fortress, and to enhance the defense of the Eastern Gate (today Despot's Gate), which, at the time, was the main entrance into the city. It was built as an outpost, or barbican , made of two massive semi-round towers, with the passage between them. At the time, there was a moat in front of

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1144-460: The beginning of the 14th century when it held the same meaning as donjon . The earlier meaning of "keep" is still in use for academics, although in popular culture, it has come to mean a cell or "oubliette". Though it is uncertain, both dungeon and donjon are thought to derive from the Middle Latin word dominus , meaning "lord" or "master". In French, the term donjon still refers to

1196-399: The chamber is in fact a partially back-filled drain. The positioning of the supposed oubliette within the larger dungeon, situated in a small alcove, is typical of garderobe arrangement within medieval buildings. These factors perhaps point to this feature being the remnants of a latrine rather than a cell for holding prisoners. Footage of the inside of this chamber can be seen in episode 3 of

1248-534: The entire fortress, which was remodeled into the bastion fort after the plans and designs by the Swiss military engineer Nicolas Doxat. Within the project, the Zindan Gate was remodeled to suite the artillery warfare. The towers were roofed with bricks, while the protective arched wall was enhanced with the earthen embankment. Masoned staircases were built, with access corridors, for both towers. The Ottomans retook

1300-463: The excavated ring, a 'dry moat'. The shared derivation implies that the two features were closely related and possibly constructed at the same time. The term moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure and to similar modern architectural features. With the introduction of siege artillery , a new style of fortification emerged in the 16th century using low walls and projecting strong points called bastions , which

1352-704: The first moat built in England for more than a century. Modern moats may also be used for aesthetic or ergonomic purposes. The Catawba Nuclear Station has a concrete moat around the sides of the plant not bordering a lake. The moat is a part of precautions added to such sites after the September 11, 2001 attacks . Moats, rather than fences, separate animals from spectators in many modern zoo installations. Moats were first used in this way by Carl Hagenbeck at his Tierpark in Hamburg , Germany. The structure, with

1404-646: The first series of Secrets of Great British Castles . A "bottle dungeon" is sometimes simply another term for an oubliette. It has a narrow entrance at the top and sometimes the room below is even so narrow that it would be impossible to lie down but in other designs the actual cell is larger. The identification of dungeons and rooms used to hold prisoners is not always a straightforward task. Alnwick Castle and Cockermouth Castle , both near England's border with Scotland, had chambers in their gatehouses which have often been interpreted as oubliettes. However, this has been challenged. These underground rooms (accessed by

1456-546: The former Southern Gate. It functioned as the main entrance into the Upper Town and the first defense of the Eastern Gate. It is strategically placed on an elevation, which sharply descends from the Arched Rampart into the Lower Town and the confluence of Danube and Sava . This left only a small, restricted access from the land which was easily controlled. Below the Zindan Gate is the Eastern Gate II which had

1508-636: The fort's complex, it is one of the most distinct gates. The gate is referred in the song Ruža vetrova by the Bajaga i Instruktori . Moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle , fortification , building , or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence . Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices . In older fortifications, such as hillforts , they are usually referred to simply as ditches , although

1560-592: The fortress in 1739, losing it again to the Austrians in 1788, before regaining it in 1791. Since the late 18th century, after the tower again lost its military importance, the Ottomans used towers' basements as dungeons , or zindan in Turkish language, hence the name of the gate. In October 1915, a grenade fired from the 42 cm Gamma Mörser hit the fortress wall right above the church but didn't explode. Church

1612-470: The function is similar. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental. They could also act as a sewer. Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian fortresses. One example is at Buhen , a settlement excavated in Nubia . Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria , and other cultures in

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1664-417: The gate, crossed by the drawbridge , while the space between the gate and the cornered tower of the Upper Town was closed with the 11 metres (36 ft) tall, arched bridge. Above the gate's arch there is a small, rectangle niche, with an alcove for the icon of the saint, protector of the city. On the towers, and arch wall which connects them, there are seven cannon openings. The gate was situated in front of

1716-408: The largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet. Japanese castles often have very elaborate moats, with up to three moats laid out in concentric circles around the castle and a host of different patterns engineered around the landscape. The outer moat of a Japanese castle typically protects other support buildings in addition to the castle. As many Japanese castles have historically been

1768-623: The meaning of "dungeon" in English evolved over time from being a prison within the tallest, most secure tower of the castle into meaning a cell, and by extension, in popular use, an oubliette or even a torture chamber. The earliest use of oubliette in French dates back to 1374, but its earliest adoption in English is Walter Scott 's Ivanhoe in 1819: "The place was utterly dark—the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent." Few Norman keeps in English castles originally contained prisons, which were more common in Scotland. Imprisonment

1820-515: The musical fantasy film Labyrinth , director Jim Henson includes a scene in which the heroine Sarah is freed from an oubliette by the dwarf Hoggle, who defines it for her as "a place you put people... to forget about 'em!" In the Thomas Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs , Clarice makes a descent into Gumb's basement dungeon labyrinth in the narrative's climactic scene, where

1872-540: The narrow part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches . Moats separating different elements of a castle, such as the inner and outer wards, are cross ditches . The word was adapted in Middle English from the Old French motte ( lit.   ' mound, hillock ' ) and was first applied to the central mound on which a castle was erected (see Motte and bailey ) and then came to be applied to

1924-489: The north, and connected via pathways, are Ružica Church , Jakšić Tower and path to the Lower Town. Rampart just south of the gate was probed during archaeological surveys and the walls of the Roman castrum Singidunum were discovered. Singidunum predated present fortress, and Belgrade in general. The fortress, for centuries being on borderline of various states, consisted of Upper Towen and Lower Town. Unsuccessful attempt by

1976-552: The reconstruction of the entire complex, including the Zindan Gate. After his design. the earthen embankment in front of the gate was transformed into the proper ravelin , with slanted, cut passage. The Ottomans regained Belgrade already in 1691, and they rehired Cornaro to finish the works, so he added the vault . Belgrade became a frontier town again, and the fortress regained its warfare importance. Second major reconstruction occurred during another Austrian occupation from 1718 to 1739 . The period saw unprecedented transformation of

2028-426: The region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in many archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae and Ban Non Wat. The use of the moats could have been either for defensive or agriculture purposes. Moats were excavated around castles and other fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside

2080-561: The same purpose, are not directly connected. The gate has massive iron door from the inner side. The Arched Rampart extends from the Northern Tower, and, in time, has been transformed into the bastion. Another rampart goes from the Southern Tower, in the direction of the Upper Town's Northeast Rampart's trench. This rampart ends with caponier , before reaching the trench. Due to its unusual name and unique appearance within

2132-527: The same role, but in the defense of the Lower Town's Eastern Gate. The Zindan Gate's line of fire, which included seven cannons, was one of the most modern solutions used in Europe at the time. The 1456 Siege of Belgrade under sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror was the first recorded artillery defense in the fortress, which helped to again defend the city from the Ottomans. After these failed attempts, Belgrade

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2184-489: The spiders to jump across. Some specimens were rewarded for jumping then swimming and others for swimming only. Portia fimbriata from Queensland generally succeeded, for whichever method they were rewarded. When specimens from two different populations of Portia labiata were set the same task, members of one population determined which method earned them a reward, whilst members of the other continued to use whichever method they tried first and did not try to adapt. As

2236-521: The walls and their statics, and reconstruction of the side rooms to make them usable again. Draining pipes were placed in the Arch Rampart above the gate, to drain water from the gate, towers and the Ružica Church, which leans on its opposite side. Wooden roofs in the tower rooms were replaced, and the doors and windows placed. The Zindan Gate occupies northeastern corner of the fortress' ridge and

2288-727: The world's largest man-made structure. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist: They extend for some 16,000 kilometres in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometres and were all dug by the Edo people. In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps

2340-517: Was Fort Lytton in Brisbane . As Brisbane was much more vulnerable to attack than either Sydney or Melbourne a series of coastal defences was built throughout Moreton Bay , Fort Lytton being the largest. Built between 1880 and 1881 in response to fear of a Russian invasion, it is a pentagonal fortress concealed behind grassy embankments and surrounded by a water-filled moat. Moats were developed independently by North American indigenous people of

2392-635: Was added, with pseudo-embrasures, akin to the appearance of the Dubrovnik 's fortification. The Zindan Gate never had such appearance in history and remains today as the only gate in the fortress with such roof. During the 1960s reconstruction, it was suggested that the venue could be adapted into the museum of Despot Stefan Lazarević . The wooden bridge in front of the gate was reconstructed in 2005 and 2020. Massive reconstruction began in April 2022. Works also included moisture problems solving, revitalization of

2444-503: Was badly damaged by this time and if the grenade exploded (cartridge weighted 900 kg (2,000 lb) and contained 96 kg (212 lb) of TNT ), it would destroy the wall of the Zindan Gate tower which was hit and would level the church to the ground as it is located below the wall. The 1938 restoration of the gate included upgrade in the Romanticist style. The tower's roof was modeled to be crown shaped. The parapet wall

2496-543: Was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. Recent work by Patrick Darling has established it as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Sungbo's Eredo , also in Nigeria. It enclosed 6,500 km (2,500 sq mi) of community lands. Its length was over 16,000 km (9,900 mi) of earth boundaries. It

2548-660: Was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 and continued into the mid-15th century. The walls are built of a ditch and dike structure, the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart. The Benin Walls were ravaged by the British in 1897. Scattered pieces of the walls remain in Edo, with material being used by the locals for building purposes. The walls continue to be torn down for real-estate developments. The Walls of Benin City were

2600-488: Was finally taken by the Ottomans in 1521. As they continued further into the Central Europe , reaching Vienna , Belgrade Fortress lost its military importance, and the Ottomans stopped upgrading, or even maintaining the fortress properly. As a result, the Austrians easily took over Belgrade in 1688 . They decided to turn the fortress into the bulwark of Christendom and hired Venetian architect Andrea Cornaro to head

2652-461: Was known as the trace italienne . The walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was superseded by lines of polygonal forts in the mid-19th century, moats continued to be used for close protection. The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya, used as a defence of the capital Benin City in present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It

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2704-667: Was not a usual punishment in the Middle Ages , with most prisoners awaiting an imminent trial, sentence or a political solution. Noble prisoners were not generally held in dungeons, but lived in some comfort in castle apartments. The Tower of London is famous for housing political prisoners , and Pontefract Castle at various times held Thomas of Lancaster (1322), Richard II (1400), Earl Rivers (1483), Richard Scrope , Archbishop of York (1405), James I of Scotland (1405–1424) and Charles, Duke of Orléans (1417–1430). Purpose-built prison chambers in castles became more common after

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