CULTURAL INFORMATIONS
BAČ
A medieval fortress in Bač is also known as one of the biggest fortresses of that
time in Pannonia. It was built near the settlement of the same name on its west side
and on a small island that was made by the river Mostonga. The fortress in Bač
belongs to the so called ‘’water towns’’ because it was completely surrounded by
water and the only way to get to it was across a drawbridge.
The fortress has a pentagonal base with towers at each angle. Inside the walls of
the fortress there is the tallest central tower (donjon or defender tower). This tower
was an important part of a defence system of the fortress but also a watchtower.
According to some chronicles Bač was also a Barbarian fortress (873. year).
Hungarian king Stjepan I founded a parish in Bač and at the end of the first and the
beginning of the second millennium, Bač has already been built and fortified town
connected to the Danube through the Mostonga river. During the reignof the Arpad
dynasty, Bač become not only a church centre of the archbishop but also a royal
town where noblemen and rulers came to conferences, gatherings and assemblies.
In the 12th century Bač was flourishing. During that period a powerfull fortress is
mentioned for the first time in written documents. It will survive several destructions
and it still attracts many scientists and tourists.At the head of the parish of Bač were
great bishops, appinted by the king and thay were rulers in this region before the
Mongolians came in 1241.
They were collecting donations, appointing military and civil commanders. Since
12th century it was a custom to offer hospitality to the King once a year. Except the
parish administrator there were subadministrators, judges, military officers and
others. At beginning of the 14th century the dynasty has changed in Hungary and
Charles Robert from the Anjoy family took over the power. In the period from 1338.
to 1342., he built a town (fortress) on the river Mostonga with square tower, six
storeys high, important for the town defence system. Today it is the oldest medieval
fortress in Vojvodina. The town had five towers, rooms for the parish administrator,
halls, rooms for the guards, kitchen, well, barn, etc. Lower from the town a civil
settlement was growing and people could come to this part of the calld suburbs
across a drawbridge very characteristic for that time.
The fortress was put out of use after the fire and destruction at the beginning of the
17th century during the battles between Austria and Rakotzy rebels from 17021704.
photo: Damiano Visintin
Franciscan Monastery
The monastery in the centre of Bač, integrated with its mediaeval urban layout. The
complex consists of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church and the square
shaped monasterial buildings with an inner court. It started to be built in the second
half of 12th century, when the members of the Equestrians of the Holy Sepulchre of
Jerusalem built a small one-nave Romanesque church. In the 14th century, the
Franciscans restored it in Gothic style, building the monastery and a tall, massive
bell tower at the side. When Bač fell under the Turkish rule, the church was turned
into a mosque (a mihrab niche in the southern wall) until the year of liberation in
1686. In 1688, the Franciscans from Bosnia take over the monastery. Baroque
renewal included the church and the monastery, when the characteristic square
inner court was created between 1724 and 1770.
Among numerous works of art, there is a painting the Last Supper from 1737, an
icon Virgin of Tenderness (glykophilousa) of Italo-Cretan school, work of a master
Dima (1684) and many hand written and printed books from 17th and 18th centuries,
the so-called Biblioteca Slavica (Croatica), as well as some sculptures and service
garments.
The convent of nuns of the Notre Dame of Bač
In 1876, along the north wall of the St Paul's church, a nunnery was built for the
Notre Dame order. Ljudevit Heinold, an archbishop and later a cardinal, supervised
the construction. A representative portrait of him in his cardinal gown was painted in
1878 by Loschinger and is kept today in the nunnery. The two storey building is of
an elongated ground plan and is built in a classicistic style. The west façade is
divided into two areas by a string course and the floor windows are shaped in the
neo Romanesque style.
photo: Damiano Visintin
Remains of a Turkish bath, hammam
Hammam in the centre of Bač is valuable testimony to the times of the Ottoman rule
in Vojvodina. It was most probably built after 1578, and Evli Çelebi mentioned on his
visit to Bač in 1665. According to the archaeological finds, there were six rooms in
the hammam (halvat - a waiting room with a cloakroom; sadirvan - a bathroom:
hazna - a water tank; kulhan - a boiler/furnace room). It is partially demolished, but
a section of the dome over the central rooms has been preserved.
St Antun the Hermit Chapel in the Guvnište woods
The Chapel is in the vicinity of Bač, on the road to Mladenovo, in the Guvnište
woods. There is an inscription that says that it was renewed in 1817 on a cult place
founded before 1526. It is a one-nave building of harmonious proportions, with
polygonal altar space in the east section, a sacristy at the north wall and a wooden
campanile in the west side. Façades are reinforced with five built buttresses, two
placed diagonally at the east angles. Above the main entrance there are two trifora
windows, like the gothic ones. In the chapel interior there is a gallery built where a
small organ is placed, donated in 1864.
Ethnographic museum
Among all we will visit the Traditional old house of Šokci (Croats which arrived
320 years ago to Bač) and the Native setting of Selenca: in Cultural center in
Selenča it is established a permanent setting of books, costumes and other items
from the life of Slovak people in this region, are only 2 examples of the multicultural
history and reality of this region, full of minorities still present.
photo: Damiano Visintin
BOĐANI
photo: Luca Bortolotto
It is 15 km to the south of Bač, towards the Danube. The complex consists of a
church, residential quarters built in the 'U' shape and the accompanying farm
houses.
It was demolished and restored several times. The first monastery was built in 1478
by a Serbian merchant Bogdan of Dalmatia, as a token of gratitude to the Virgin for
healing his eyes. The present monastery church, the fourth one to be built, is
devoted to the Presentation of the Virgin and was built in 1722 by Mihail
Tamisvarlija. It is of a cruciform ground plan, with dome, 5.5 m in diameter, rising
above the main nave and transept cross. The present quarters were built after a
fire, between 1786 and 1810. The sections at the north and south ends have a
storey, while the one at the west end is a ground floor structure.
The interior walls are covered with frescoes (app. 600m2), painted by Hristifor
Zefarovic, a printer and a painter. The Bođani paintings, dating from 1737,
displaying both Byzantine and baroque artistic tendencies, represent a crucial point
in Serbian art and some of the most valuable frescoes in the first half of the 18 th
century in south-east Europe. The iconostasis screen is also an outstanding object
of art, the work of Kyiv painters with Jov Vasiliyevič and Vasily Romanovič. There is
also a miracle-working icon of the Virgin of Bođani.
NOVI SAD
photo: Damiano Visintin
Novi Sad is the capital of Vojvodina, actually it is a metropolitan town because
included on the left bank of the Danube the commuunity of Petrovaradin and other
little settlements. There are about 400.000 inhabitants. The city was founded in
1694, when Serb merchants formed a colony across the Danube from the
Petrovaradin fortress, a Habsburg strategic military post. In the 18th and 19th
centuries, it became an important trading and manufacturing centre, as well as a
centre of Serbian culture of that period, earning the nickname Serbian Athens.
The city was heavily devastated in the 1848 Revolution, but it was subsequently
restored. During the city's long history, it has maintained its multi-cultural identity,
with Serbs, Hungarians and Germans being the main ethnic groups. Today, Novi Sad
is an industrial and financial centre of the serbian economy, as well as a major
cultural hub.
photo: Damiano Visintin
The Petrovaradin fortress
Petrovaradin was founded by Celts, but its original name is not known. During
Roman administration it was known as Cusum. After the Romans conquered the
region from the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, they built the Cusum fortress where present
Petrovaradin fortress now stands. In addition, the town received its name from the
Bizantynes, who called it Petrikon (Πετρικον). Later, the town was conquered by the
Kingdom of Hungary (in the 12th century), by the Ottoman Empire (in 1526), and
by the Habsburg Monarchy (in 1687). The actual fortress was built from 1692 till
1780, by mlitary engineers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Marsilio, Kaiserfeld and
Vamberg, according to the Voban’s plan. It occupies the space of 112 ha with a
unique system of four level and 16 km long underground corridors. Petrovaradin
fortress has been an important cultural and art center since 1951, and the largest
art colony in the world with over 88 art studios. Also the Museum of the City of Novi
Sad is very famous and very interesting to be visited.
FRUŠKA GORA NATIONAL PARK
www.npfruskagora.co.rs
photo: Damiano Visintin
Fruška Gora is proclaimed as National Park in 1960 in order to provide its permanent
protection and to improve its natural resources and beauty. It is an isolated, narrow,
island mountain in Pannonia plain. Thanks to unique and very rich deposits of fossil
fauna and flora, Fruška Gora is called the 'mirror of geological past', but the main
characteristic of this region is the existence of numerous protected, rare and
endangered species. Fruška Gora's valleys are covered with pastures and fertile
fields, numerous vineyards and orchards which decorate its lower slopes while
higher ground, above 300 meters, is covered with dense deciduous forests. Fruška
Gora hides 15 orthodox monasteries preserved till today (in the period from XV to
XVIII century were built 35 monasteries in a marvelous natural setting), famous for
their specific architecture, treasuries, libraries and frescoes and numerous
archeological sites from prehistoric and historic times as well. This historical and
sacral complex has been enlisted for UNESCO program of protection.