Ottoman-Habsburg Wars (1521-1791)
Images from eight wars fought between 1570 and 1718
Cluj-Napoca and Novi Zrin, 1664
Nouo, uero, geometrico fondamento, e dissegno di Serinuar nobilisso. Castello uecchio, et al presente Città, e Fortezza nuouam.te fabricata nel Regno di Schiauonia, con la rappresentatione di Claudio- / opoli...
1664 or laterEtching and engraving; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type B); no gilt edges | 21.7 x 33.3 cm (image) | RCIN 723123
A low oblique view of Novi Zrin (Serinvar), built between 1661 and 1663 by Nicholas VII of Zrin (Nikola Zrinski; Hungarian: Zrínyi; 5 January 1620-18 November 1664) – the 'Conte Serin' in this print – to protect this area from the Ottoman forces, commanded by Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazel Ahmed Pasha who took the fortress on 7 July 1664 and razed it to the ground. Zrinski was the Ban [viceregal governor under the Habsburgs] of Croatia from 1647-1664. Oriented with west-south-west to top (cardinal points). Habsburg-Ottoman Wars (Fourth Austro-Turkish War) (1663-4).
The site of Novi Zrin is in the border area between Croatia and Hungary. Accounts variously describe the fortress, of which there appears to be no trace on the ground today, as lying on the left or right bank of the Mur. One source (Feletar) places the site between the confluence of the Kanižnica and Viszafolyo streams, both of which can be found on current mapping of the area and are perhaps the two streams which can be seen in this print entering the River Mur at the top and bottom right respectively. The courses of the two main rivers (the Mur and the Draba) have changed substantially over the course of the centuries. The distance between Canissa (Nagykanizsa) and Novi Zrin is about 19 km or about 12 miles and the distances between the various other settlements shown in this print have been radically compressed. A location map, and other old maps of the fortress, are on pages 49, 53, 54 and 63 of Feletar (2012).
A very similar print by Ortelius, almost identical in detail but with the profiles in the top right corner and lacking the inset of Claudiopolis, was published in 1665 in Frankfurt with the title 'WAHRE ABBILDUNG DES STARCKEN GRANITZHOUS NEBEN DER NEVEN VESTUNG SERINWAR 1664'.
Anonymous (printmaker)
Watermark: Print: none visible. Mount: none.
Condition: brown discolouration. No fold lines. Pressure marks from the mounts of items which were kept above and below this map/print in a different collection are present on the verso
19.2 x 33.3 cm (neatline)
21.7 x 33.3 cm (image)
cropped (platemark)
22.2 x 33.5 cm (whole object)
23.7 x 36.3 cm (mount)
Printed title:
Nouo, uero, geometrico fondamento, e dissegno di Serinuar nobilisso. Castello uecchio, et al presente Città, e Fortezza nuouam.te fabricata nel Regno di Schiauonia, con la rappresentatione di Claudio- / opoli, Città mercantile famosa nella Transiluania.
Inset:
[bottom left, in rectangular panel, a series of profiles of the fortifications:] Prouil d’ Serinuar [right centre, an oval portrait of Nicholas VII of Zrin (Nikola Zrinski; Hungarian: Zrínyi) around which, within a double border, is engraved Zrínski’s motto: SORS BONA NIHIL ALIVT [good luck, nothing else]; [top right, in rectangular frame:] la Fortezza di Claudiopoli.
Additional text:
[below print; text begins:] fu fabricato et habitato Serinuar Castelo forte da Valorosi Eroi et è conseruato puro et in nepugnabile e posto nel cerchio del Regno di Schiauonia uicino al fiume muhr, è fabricato questo Castello di pietra, et fatto / con singolar ingegno … la dronesco de’ Turchi di Canissa.
Annotations:
George III heading: Serinuar 1664.
Other annotations: (Recto) [along left edge, black pencil, erased, traces of the text of the George III heading]. ]; [bottom centre, black pencil, cropped:] 166[?]; [bottom left, black pencil, erased:] Serinuar. (Verso) none.
George III catalogue entry:
Serinuar Disegno della Fortezza di Serinuar nuovamente fabricata dal Conte di Serin, 1664
Subject(s)
Cluj-Napoca [Claudiopolis], Cluj, Romania (46°46ʹ00ʺN 23°36ʹ00ʺE)
Novi Zrin [Új-Zrínyvár; Novo Serinvar], Somogy megye, Hungary (46°19ʹ25ʺN 16°52ʹ42ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
D. Feletar, Legradska kapetanija u obrani od Osmanlija –s posebnim osvrtom na Novi Zrin. Rad Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti : Razred za društvene znanosti, 2011, (510=48), 47-81 (last accessed 1 December 2017) 'Role of the Legrad Military District in the defence against the Ottoman Empire – special emphasis on Novi Zrin’
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 3243
Page revisions
14 March 2024
Current version
