Petrovaradin

Petrovaradin is the settlement older than Novi Sad with wealthy history. The rapid urbanisation of Novi Sad led this settlement with its 12000 inhabitants into its suburb on the right river bank of the Danube,

                The Petrovaradin fortress dominates on the right river bank and it is called Gibraltar on the Danube. The favourable position on the Petrovaradin rock, ideal for the control of navigation, was noticed by the Romans who in the II century built a fortress named Cusum. In the XII century Hungarians built a strong fortress which was seized by the Turks in 1526. In its famous raid, Eugene von Savoyen managed to liberate it in 1691. The Austrians built a new fortess as a main point of their defence for the Southern border. This is the one of the first fortresses made according to the system of the famous military architect marquis Sebastian Voban. Design of the fortress was made by the military architects Kajzersfeld and Vamberg. The construction was finished in 1780 and it embaces 112 ha. On its walls it has 10000 loop-holes, 400 cannon spots, and in the four level basement galleries, 16  km of subterranean corridors and well for water supply. The fotress is opened for visitors and there are special guides for subterranean corridors. In the complex of the fotress there areČ estaurants, museum, as well as shops with souvenirs and galeries.

                 The most impotant cultural event on the Petrovaradin fortress is the music festival EXIT.

                The Church of Holly Juraj is a baroque building at the foothill of the fortress, constructed in the period as from 1701 to 1716. On the frontside of the church there is a statue of Saint Ignatio, founder of the Clan of Jesus. In the basement of the Church there are graves where the officers who lost their lives in the Petrovaradin battle in 1716 were buried. In the bastion of the Prince Ludvig Badenski s the Clock tower, motioned by the original mechanism from the XVIII century. The clock is specific, the big clock hand indicates hours and the small one minutes, so that it would be more visible for the ships sailing on the Danube.

                Downstream from Petrovaradin, the Danube turns towards south-east. There is the officers’ beach and the closed branch of the Danube for boats. The left river bank has lots of woods and enters into protected zone of nature called Koviljsko – Petrovaradin swampy region.

Source: www.wikipedia.org