Nikopol Fortress

Nikopol Fortress, near Nikopol, was a strongly fortified structure of strategic importance with a well-protected harbour. Surviving parts known as Shishman's Gate date from the early nineteenth century, rather than from Tsar Ivan Shishman's time.
Nikopol Fortress is mentioned in the eleventh-century Bulgarian Apocryphal Chronicle. In the final years of the Second Bulgarian Empire, Tsar Ivan Shishman moved here after leaving Tarnovo. The Turks unsuccessfully besieged it in 1393 but captured it by deception in 1395, using Bulgarian ships. This incident followed the Battle of Rovine between Sultan Bayezid I and the Wallachian voivode Mircea the Elder.
In 1396 the Hungarian king Sigismund unsuccessfully besieged Nikopol Fortress. His army was defeated by Sultan Bayezid I, who arrived on the sixteenth day of the siege. Later, in 1444, Władysław III of Varna and the Wallachian voivode Michael the Brave also unsuccessfully attempted to capture the fortress.
Finally, in 1810, Nikopol Fortress was captured by the Russian army, which blew it up on Marshal Kutuzov's orders when withdrawing.