The first mention of Smederevo under this name is recorded in the Charter of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II from 1019, in the part concerning the Eparchy of Braničevo of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. An early written mention of Smederevo is also found in the Charter of Prince Lazar from 1381, which mentions Ravanica Monastery and the villages and estates he granted “in Smederevo, to the man Bogosav, with the community and patrimony”.
Smederevo lies along the line of the Roman frontier (the Limes) and the Constantinople Road, which throughout history largely determined its importance and its role in historical events. As a result, the site has been continuously inhabited from prehistory, through antiquity and the Middle Ages, to the present day. All these periods are reflected in the rich cultural heritage of the Smederevo area, embodied in a number of sites in and around the city.
Smederevo gained particular importance at the beginning of the fifteenth century, in the time of Despot Đurađ Branković, when it became the last capital of the medieval Serbian state and the centre of church and economic life. Smederevo Fortress was built, and its walls still stand today, bearing witness to the city’s turbulent past and to an importance that even then extended beyond the local and regional level. Smederevo became a centre at the crossroads of civilisations, where the influences of East and West intertwined.
The fortress stands on the right bank of the Danube, at the confluence of the Jezava River. Its interior covers 11 ha, while its wider surroundings now extend into the urban fabric. It was built as a defensive fortification on the model of the fortress of Constantinople and is one of the largest fortresses in Europe.
After falling into Ottoman hands, Smederevo retained its wider regional importance as the seat of a sanjak until 1521. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it developed into a larger oriental town. At the end of the seventeenth century, during the Austro-Turkish wars, the town changed hands repeatedly between the warring sides, was destroyed and declined economically. Under Austrian rule, it was the centre of a district.
In the restored Serbian state, Smederevo played an important role, above all as the seat of the Governing Council from 1805 to 1807, but also as a developed urban settlement, a trading centre and the main town of the Smederevo nahija.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing on its potential to a greater or lesser extent, it held its place among the most developed towns in Serbia.
