Cultural Informations
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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 1702- 1704. 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 photo: Damiano Visintin 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. 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 photo: Damiano Visintin 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 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 photo: Luca Bortolotto 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 18th 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 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 photo: Damiano Visintin 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.