The fortress called Spanjola, by the local population, retained its name up to nowadays, even though the Turks rebuilt it around 1539 – 1548, at the place where the Spanish built it, briefly conquering the city from 1538 to 1539, destroying at this place a smaller Turkish fort.
About the construction of this monumental and their most well-established fortification throughout the Adriatic, the Turks left a written testimony on the inscription in the Turkish language (Turkish language until 1928 was written in Arabic letters and then in Latin letters) above the entrance to the fortress which means “This fortress according to the Sultan’s order, was built by Suleiman, the son of great Emir Selman Han, a mighty and honest knight, whose brother was Sinan-Bey, the great Vizier of the Sultan. Let him revive long years and progress in happiness and possession under the cover and with the help of the gracious God. And the poets, if some of them make this way, let them shout ecstatically , looking at me: Oh, what a beautiful edifice. ”
Due to the strategic advantages of the hill Bajer, the fortress of Spanjola is situated on the northwestern side of the city at an altitude of 170 meters and dominates the entrance to the Bay of Boka. It offers a wide-ranging view of the vast territory. The fortress is surrounded by massive walls with four protruding circular bastions at the corners. The main entrance on the eastern side is secured by the outer wall, while the south side, towards the sea, is upgraded and adapted to the new fortification requirements (that is the Venetian opus), in the western part, Turkish opus and parts of the mosque are preserved. Spanjola always had the feature of military character fort until the beginning of the 20th century. In World War II, it was a prison for some time. At the end of 1988, architect Boris Dabovic from Herceg Novi, developed the conceptual program of its revitalization.