Stalać

Stalac occupies a strategic position near the meeting of the western and southern branches of the Morava in Serbia. River valleys offered important routes through the Balkan interior, linking agricultural country with approaches toward larger centres. A fortress above the surrounding land expressed the value of controlling movement at such a junction. Cultivation, livestock and local exchange supplied communities whose lives were closely connected with roads and crossings.

The medieval fortress guarded this junction of the Morava valleys. The chronicler Constantine of Kostenets recorded that Musa Çelebi attacked and destroyed it in 1413, during struggles involving the Ottoman and Serbian rulers. In 1433 the traveller Bertrandon de la Broquière described boats near the confluence, evidence of continuing river traffic in the region.