Smederevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Смедерево, pronounced [smêdereʋo] ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
According to the 2022 census, the city has a population of 59,261, with 97,930 people living in its administrative area.
Đurađ Vuković Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђурађ Вуковић Бранковић, Hungarian: Brankovics György; (22 February 1377 – 24 December 1456) served as the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456, making him one of the final rulers of medieval Serbia.
In 1429, Branković was formally granted the Byzantine title of Despot by Emperor John VIII Palaiologos. Like many Christian rulers in Eastern Europe at the time, his rule was marked by Ottoman vassalage. Despite this, he often sought to strengthen Christian alliances while maintaining the appearance of loyalty to the Ottoman Empire. Branković is also remembered for constructing the Smederevo Fortress in the city of Smederevo, which became the last capital of medieval Christian Serbia. He risked his life defending Belgrade with 3,000 knights against an Ottoman army of 60,000 under the command of Mehmed II the Conqueror.
The Sanjak of Smederevo, also known in historiography as the Pashalik of Belgrade, was an Ottoman administrative unit (sanjak) centered on Smederevo, that existed between the 15th and the outset of the 19th centuries. It was located in the territory of present-day Central Serbia.
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The Smederevo Fortress (Serbian: Cмeдepeвcκa твpђaвa / Smederevska tvrđava) is a medieval fortified city in Smederevo, Serbia, which was the temporary capital of Serbia in the Middle Ages. It was built between 1427 and 1430 on the order of Despot Đurađ Branković, the ruler of the Serbian Despotate. It was further fortified by the Ottoman Empire, which had taken the city in 1459.
The fortress withstood several sieges by Ottomans, surviving relatively unscathed. During World War II it was heavily damaged by explosions and bombing, despite which the fortress remained "one of the rare preserved courts of medieval Serbian rulers." As of 2009, it was in the midst of extensive restoration and conservation work,