My name is Nikša, I am nine years old, and I really love playing Minecraft. My mom says it’s a waste of time, but I think it’s the fastest way to build real things. In Minecraft, you take blocks and turn them into castles, towers, and whole cities. You just need imagination and a lot of stone.

One day, my dad took me to Kastel Fortress in Banja Luka. It’s a very old fortress, right next to the Vrbas River. The moment I saw it, I got really excited. I told my dad, “This place looks exactly like Minecraft!” He laughed and asked why. I told him to look closer.

The huge gate. The thick walls. The towers. Everything is made of stone blocks,big, grey, heavy blocks,stacked one on top of another. Just like when I play Survival mode and collect cobblestone to build my own castle. Kastel looks like someone spent hundreds of years building a fortress block by block, without a keyboard or a mouse.

While I was walking around, I imagined how people lived here a long, long time ago. Maybe knights. Maybe soldiers. Maybe builders who carried those heavy stone blocks and placed them carefully, one by one. It felt like they were playing Minecraft too,but in Hardcore mode, with real stone and no respawn.

My dad told me that Kastel is cultural heritage. That means our ancestors built it, and now it’s our job to protect it. Long ago, people built castles and walls to protect themselves from enemies. That was their shield.

I told my dad that we have shields too,just different ones. In games, we build castles to protect our diamonds from Creepers and Zombies. And then I realized something really cool.

Kastel is like a castle someone left behind on our server.

The people who built it are gone, just like players who log out. But their towers, walls, and gates are still here. They left their world for us, so we can see how they lived, what they valued, and how much effort it took to build something that lasts.

Today, we don’t need to carry stone blocks on our backs. We sit down, turn on a computer, and in five minutes build a whole city out of wooden planks and stone bricks. But this fortress,the real one,is much more important. It’s like the spawn point of our city. Everything started here.

My friend Viktor helped me understand the history behind it. He told me that Kastel has existed for centuries and that many different civilizations rebuilt and strengthened it over time. Romans, medieval builders, and later rulers all added their own “layers” to the fortress. Every wall tells a story, and every stone carries memory.

That made me think: Kastel is not just one build,it’s many versions of the same world, upgraded again and again across history.

That’s why we have to protect it now. We can’t let anything destroy those old blocks. No real-life Creepers allowed. If one stone falls, a part of the story disappears forever.

I wish I could bring my brother Marko from Novi Sad here. I’d love to explore Kastel with him, pretending we’re searching for hidden chests full of emeralds or maybe a secret Nether Portal. But my dad says it’s enough that we know this place matters, and that these blocks were here long before computers, games, or even electricity existed.

Kastel is our strongest and oldest structure. It’s a real Ancient City. And just like in Minecraft, when you find something rare and powerful, you don’t destroy it,you protect it.

Because once a world is lost, you can never fully rebuild it.

And Kastel is a world we all share.

Zovem se Nikša, imam devet godina i najviše volim da igram Minecraft. Mama kaže da je to gubljenje vremena, ali ja mislim da je to kao da praviš prave stvari, samo mnogo brže. U Minecraftu uzmeš kocke i od njih napraviš dvorce, kule i cijele gradove. Treba ti samo mašta i puno kamena.

Jednog dana tata me je odveo na Kastel u Banjoj Luci. To je jako stara tvrđava, odmah pored rijeke Vrbas. Kad sam je prvi put vidio, baš sam se iznenadio. Rekao sam tati: „Ovo izgleda isto kao Minecraft!“ Tata se nasmijao i pitao me zašto, a ja sam mu rekao da samo malo bolje pogleda.

Velika kapija. Debeli zidovi. Kule. Sve je napravljeno od kamenih blokova ,velikih, sivih i teških. Baš kao kad ja u Survival modu skupljam cobblestone i pravim svoj dvorac. Kastel izgleda kao da je neko jako dugo slagao blok po blok, bez miša i tastature.

Dok smo šetali, zamišljao sam kako su ovdje ljudi živjeli prije puno, puno godina. Možda vitezovi. Možda vojnici. Možda graditelji koji su nosili teške kamene blokove i slagali ih jedan na drugi. Meni je to izgledalo kao da su i oni igrali Minecraft, samo u Hardcore modu i sa pravim kamenjem.

Tata mi je rekao da je Kastel kulturno nasljeđe. To znači da su ga sagradili naši preci i da je sada na nama da ga čuvamo. Nekada su ljudi gradili dvorce i zidine da se zaštite od neprijatelja. To im je bio štit.

Ja sam tati rekao da i mi danas imamo štitove, samo drugačije. U igricama gradimo dvorce da sačuvamo dijamante od Creepera i zombija. I onda sam shvatio nešto baš super.

Kastel je kao dvorac koji je neko ostavio na našem serveru.

Ljudi koji su ga gradili više nisu tu, isto kao igrači koji se odjave iz igre. Ali njihove kule, zidovi i kapije su ostali. Ostavili su svoj svijet nama, da možemo da vidimo kako su živjeli i koliko je truda trebalo da se napravi nešto što traje tako dugo.

Danas ne moramo nositi kamene blokove na leđima. Mi sjednemo za računar i za pet minuta napravimo cijeli grad od drvenih dasaka i kamenih cigli. Ali ova prava, kamena tvrđava je mnogo važnija. Ona je kao spawn point našeg grada. Sve je ovdje počelo.

Moj drug Viktor mi je pomogao da bolje razumijem istoriju Kastela. Rekao mi je da je tvrđava stara više vijekova i da su je različiti narodi i vladari gradili i popravljali tokom vremena. Svaki zid ima svoju priču, a svaki kamen pamti nešto.

To znači da Kastel nije samo jedna građevina, nego puno njih,kao da je isti svijet stalno dobijao nove verzije kroz istoriju.

Zato danas moramo paziti na njega. Ne smijemo dozvoliti da se ti stari blokovi unište. Nema pravih Creepera ovdje. Ako jedan kamen nestane, nestane i dio priče.

Volio bih da mogu dovesti svog brata Marka iz Novog Sada i da zajedno istražujemo Kastel, kao da tražimo skrivene sanduke sa emeraldima ili tajni Nether portal. Ali tata kaže da je najvažnije da znamo koliko je ovo mjesto posebno i da su ovi blokovi postojali mnogo prije nego što su izmišljeni računari.

Kastel je naša najstarija i najjača građevina. To je pravi Ancient City. A kad u Minecraftu nađeš nešto rijetko i važno, ti to ne rušiš, ti to čuvaš.

Jer kad se jedan svijet izgubi, ne može se više napraviti isti.

A Kastel je svijet koji svi dijelimo.