For centuries Sinj has been a pearl each government wanted to adorn itself with, a boundary stone between the coast and the inland, surrounded by the nearby mountain peaks, the Cetina River and its tributaries. Although shaken by earthquakes, destroyed and burnt by conquerors, who imposed their foreign languages, religion and customs, the Town still grew stronger, unyielding and defiant. The renowned folk poet Father Andrija Kačić Miošić wrote a poem praising the 1715 grand victory over the Turks: ″The Town of Sinj, the mace of gold, / Heroic megdan from days of yore …″
In honour of its heavenly patroness the Madonna of Sinj, who, according to the tradition, forced the Turks into flight in 1715 (''a woman in white was seen, walking on the walls of Sinj''), as an eternal vow of devotion and respect, the people of Sinj instituted the Alka – the knights tournament of Sinj, and thus each year on the first Sunday in August the glorious victory is revived.