The fortified town of Bela (today Pusta Bela) has been a fortress and the center of the Ivano-Frankivsk population since the beginning of the 13th century. Their presence in this area is confirmed by the charter of Bela IV. from 1238. The Ivan family owned a large complex around Ivančica and Ivanec. The only material proof of the activity of the people of Ivano-Frankivsk is in the transmission of French architectural culture - in the Romanesque castles with a central defense tower that were brought to Croatia almost at the same time as they were created in France. This is confirmed even today by the remains of Pusta Bela, whose ruins preserve visible stone traces of a building with a circular floor plan within the remains of the ramparts.

Pusta Bela is located at 430 meters above sea level, from where the passage through Belski dol was controlled. Not much remains of the former center of Ivano-Frankivsk, only the ruins of the city that burned down in 1481.

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Marko Novotny

October 5, 2025

Old ruins of Pusta Bela on the top of the hill

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Elevation 380 m

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Monday 24 November

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