Ada-Kaleh Island, romanian secret tax haven

The island, which has been labeled as a tax haven Romania has had a troubled history due to its strategic position, finding always be under Turkish dominion or under Austrian rule.

After building the hydropower and navigation of the Iron Gates I, Ada-Kaleh came under the Danube and the city was moved Simian Island.

Ada-Kaleh, “a small Gibraltar” as they named historians, downstream from the city of Orşova have a height of 48 m, dominated by Alion hill, 317 m high and located north of the Danube, and the Golubinska south of Planina.

In medieval documents island had other names: Carolina, Porizza, Ciughene ADAS (Island Gypsy), Ada-I-Kebir (Ostrovul Mare).Ada-Kaleh name (Castle Island), is generalized after 1788 became official in 1878. Ada-Kaleh was ruled alternately by Turks and Austrians.The first fortifications were made by Iancu de Hunedoara, prince of Transylvania, to stem Turk torrent.The island has had a troubled history due to its strategic position, finding always be under Turkish dominion or under Austrian rule.Between 1718-1739, when the island was under Austrian rule, the city was built by Vauban, star-shaped.The fortress had the shape of a parallelogram and was provided with bastions, casemates and ditches.

Austrian-Turkish wars of the late seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century, showed that in the Iron Gates was necessary to build cities after a new system to withstand artillery.

In 1689, the Austrian army’s Veterans General proposes to construct a pentagonal fortress on the island of St. Helena. Count Marigli endorses the proposal, which includes the construction of ditches and palisades. The future governor of Banat was tasked by Eugene of Savoy between 1716 and 1718 with resuming construction of the city’s problems. Preparatory preliminary work began in August 1717 when a pontoon bridge was built to connect the island to the shore for the purpose of transporting goods. After several years of work, the island’s fortifications were finally completed in 1737. There were two outer belts of fortifications surrounding the city, in addition to the city itself. The city was shaped like an elongated star as a result of its location on the island’s configuration.

It was fortified with the usual bastions and casemates, which were connected by brick arched galleries that formed a large patio.
Access to the city is gained from the east and west via a series of gates with stone carvings facing each other, which bear the imprint of the Baroque style on their faces.

The 25-meter-high walls were built of brick and worked, and they were all provided with narrow embrasures on the exterior and interior, as well as polished stone corners.

The mosque, which stood over the eastern gate and was built on the site of a Franciscan monastery church in 1903, was a welcome sight.

On one side of the east gate is an inscription from 1739 whiVauban citadel, Ada-Kaleh was built by the Austrians after the Peace of Karlowitz (1718).Occupying a large part of the island, the city was one of the most important fortifications of this type in Europe.Soon after its completion the city fell under the rule of the Turks.This was enshrined in the peace of Sistov which stipulated that Ada-Kaleh remain under Turkish dominion and Orsova, nearby, was for the Austrians.

By the Peace of Berlin (1878), Ada-Kaleh remains a Muslim oasis on the Danube, property of the sultan but under Austro-Hungarian administration, with a special status.In the island there is a mayor, a judge and a priest – Muslims and the Turkish flag was hoisted.

Ada-Kaleh Island, romanian secret tax haven

After building the hydropower and navigation of the Iron Gates I, Ada-Kaleh came under the Danube and the city was moved Simian Island. ch too great victory Turks.The lack of interest for the revival of the lost paradise, where, according to legend, stopped even Hercules, occurred immediately after the Iron Gates hydroelectric, so anyone not interested in a few vestiges were not even Romanian.What little he moved froze Simian Island, overgrown with vegetation.

Unfortunately, the lack of interest shown by the communists who vandalized the island of everything beautiful and valuable continued after 1989. Throughout the years, many foreign investors have knocked on doors hoping the county administration to seize the island, but everything remained only at the stage of discussion.

Ada-Kaleh or Carolina, as it was called until 1788, the Austrians did not belong only slightly Romanian state.With thick walls up to 20 meters, arranged in two rows, the city was very hard to get in combat, being the only chance of a long siege, intended to starve the locals.But supposedly the island leaving a series of tunnels beneath the waters of the Danube, which responded on the Serbian side.Here they had built schools, a weaver, a tailor, one of the largest factories of shit and halva and also a cigarette factory.

The city stopped even King Carol II, with Nicolae Iorga, the wait in the charming garden of the mayor himself Omer Feyzi island Turhan Ismail.Then, it was a financial paradise, residents are exempted from customs duties, taxes, military service and did not pay anything for firewood brought from Romania. With the coming to power of communists, the island fate radically changed.
Expropriations and deportations were carried out in large numbers. Bărăgan and the Turks were forced to flee to this location. Ali Kadri, the richest man on the island, flees to Turkey, leaving his fortune in the hands of fate. Other large villas, such as Aga’s Regep or Maria Antonescu, were occupied by a variety of people in Bucharest, including communists who were dispatched to the city. When he wanted to travel to Turkey, the Turkish public demanded that he donate his entire fortune to the Romanian government before he could obtain a passport to travel there.