🇷🇸 Exploring PETROVARADIN FORTRESS - Just across the Danube River from Novi Sad

Petrovaradin Fortress (Serbian: Petrovaradinska Tvrđava) is situated in the town of Petrovaradin on the right bank of Danube River. The city of Novi Sad is on the other side of the river.

Petrovaradin Fortress possesses many tunnels as well as a 16-kilometre underground countermine system.

It would be an understatement to say that Petrovaradin Fortress has had a turbulent history. We might dwell on the oldest remains of Petrovaradin which date back to the Neolithic period (around 4500 years BC), followed by the settling of Celts and Romans.

However, the real turning point in the history of Petrovaradin was the year 1235. In this year, King of Hungary, Béla IV, settled the Cistercians from the French province of Champagne. In that time, the first big military fortress within the parish of the Cistercian monastery was constructed so as to ensure protection from the Mongols. Petrovaradin began to gain prominence, while the historical sources of that time call Petrovaradin ‘Varoš Varad.’ Petrovaradin was first mentioned in 1521 by the Hungarian writer and prelate Antun Vrančić, under the name Stari Petrovaradin (Eng. Old Petrovaradin).

Moving on to 27 July 1527. Under the leadership of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Turks conquered Petrovaradin. The Turkish reign lasted 161 years. The medieval form of Petrovaradin Fortress was generally maintained.

Next up was the Habsburg reign. The Austrian army took over these territories in 1687 and urgently initiated preparations for building a new defence object since they faced a long battle for the Danube region in the Balkans. The Turks recaptured Petrovaradin in 1690. However, they were defeated near Slankamen, on 17 August 1691, thus losing all their occupying territories throughout the entire Srem region.

The destruction of medieval and Turkish settlements in 1692 laid the foundations for today’s Petrovaradin Fortress. The project was the brainchild of a French architect, Marquis de Vauban, who was one of the leading engineers of modern fortresses in Europe throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Including certain interruptions, the construction came to an end in 1780.

The construction began on the southern side of the Upper Fortress, where the first of many bastions was built upon the orders from the Habsburg emperor Leopold I (the Leopold’s Bastion. The work was interrupted in 1694 because of a Turkish army attack.

Following the Karlovac peace treaty in 1699, the Turks finally left the area. However, the Petrovaradin Fortress still maintained its strategic importance. In the same year, engineer colonel Count Mathias Keyserfeld made the first blueprint for the fortress, while the next was compiled by the engineer colonel Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (1659–1730).

In the relative calm before 1728 (briefly interrupted by the outbreak of Austro-Turkish war between 1716 and 1718), the construction of the Upper Fortress was continued along with the modifications of the master line, ravelins and counter guards.

The Treaty of Belgrade in 1739 brought a more permanent peace for Turkey and Austria after many decades. The construction of the Petrovaradin Fortress resumed after a nearly three-decade-long interruption (from 1726 to 1753).

The final construction phase started in 1753. In the period from 1764 until 1776, the military engineer Major Schroeder was responsible for the construction of the countermine system (the underground military gallery) underneath Hornwerk (South of the established Petrovaradin). Between 1768 and 1776, a four-story underground was built. It has been estimated that the total length of the underground chambers is 16 kilometres.

The year 1780 is cited as the year the Petrovaradin Fortress was built, although some works did last for a few more years. Petrovaradin became the most contemporary armed fortress in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is spread out across 112 hectares and has a ‘water town’, i.e. small channels between the ramparts that are filled with water from the Danube when required.

As for the famous Clock Tower, it originated in Alsace, France. Empress Maria Theresa gave it to the citizens of Novi Sad as a present in the first half of the 18th century. The most interesting fact about this clock is that the big hand on the clock shows hours, while the small hand shows minutes. In such a way, boatmen can see what time it is.
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