Hungarian and Turkish researchers working here believe that they have found the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, the greatest ruler of the Ottoman Empire, who died at Szigetvar in early September 1566 - almost 450 years ago. [...]
The victory was pyrrhic, however: So heavy were the Ottoman losses that they abandoned their bid to take Vienna, an outcome that later prompted French diplomat Cardinal Richelieu to call Szigetvar "the battle that saved civilization".
Fearing the reaction of troops to the death of a sultan, who had ruled for four decades, Suleiman's aides kept his demise secret and smuggled his corpse back to Constantinople for burial at the Suleymaniye Mosque that he had commissioned.
But the weather was hot and the road home was long, so Suleiman's heart and other organs were removed here and, as legend has it, interred in a golden coffin beneath his last encampment. [...]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who has been dubbed a "neo-Ottoman" due to his reverence for the nation's imperial past and desire to extend its geopolitical influence - plans to attend a commemoration in Szigetvar on September 7.
He will join Hungarian and Croatian leaders - the Habsburg forces who defended Szigetvar to the end were mostly Croats - for the climax of the 450th-anniversary events that are both thrilling and daunting for the town of 10,000 people.
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