Tombstone of despot-era nobleman found in Golubac
During the restoration of a Turkish bath at Golubac fortress, archaeologists found the gravestone of Stefan Kuveta, son of a top official under Despot Stefan Lazarevic.
- A gravestone of Stefan Kuveta, son of grand chamberlain Vuk Kuveta, was found at Golubac fortress.
- The slab was reused as flooring in an Ottoman-era Turkish bath after the conquest.
- Experts date its placement to between 1458 and 1463.
- The find was announced by Serbia's Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments.
The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments says a 15th-century Serbian nobleman’s gravestone has come to light during conservation work on a Turkish bath inside Golubac fortress. The slab was found as part of the oldest stone floor in the bath’s fountain area.
The stone belonged to Stefan Kuveta, son of grand chamberlain Vuk Kuveta, a dignitary whose career began under Prince Lazar and reached its height under Despot Stefan Lazarevic. The Cyrillic inscription preserves the name of a family that stood at the very top of the medieval Serbian state.
How did the tombstone end up in a bath floor?
The stone was not found where it was first set up. It turned up in secondary use, built into the paving of the fountain area inside an Ottoman bath raised within the fortress walls.
Experts estimate the slab was laid into the floor between 1458 and 1463, in the years right after the Ottoman conquest of Golubac. A stone from a Christian grave marker was thus given a wholly new, practical role in a structure built by the conquerors.
Enough of the inscription survives to read whose grave it once marked. It states:
Here lies the servant of God Stefan Kuveta, son of the grand chamberlain of the despot, Vuk Kuveta
What does the find tell us about the Kuveta family?
The title of grand chamberlain was among the highest at the medieval Serbian court, so the mention of Vuk Kuveta confirms how close this family stood to the ruler. His career is tied to the rise of the despotate under Stefan Lazarevic.
The bath where the stone was found was first studied archaeologically in 2014, and conservation work was carried out through 2025 and 2026 with funding from the Ministry of Tourism. The discovery is part of a wider effort to restore the fortress, one of the most important medieval strongholds on the Danube.
The find remains under study, since a single slab in secondary use can recover only part of the story of the people whose names it carries. With discoveries like this, what draws you more, the fate of individuals or the picture of the age they reveal?
