Bačka Palanka

This little town on the bank of the Danube at the crossing of the planes of Srem and the Croatian Panonnia and interesting for the hunting grounds and the fishing zones in its environment. Moreover there are some cultural monuments situated in a 30 km sector has been worthy coming. Thus take the advantage of this stage on the Danube to rest in one of the hotel establishments.

History

The first written mention of the town has been from 1486 when this little burgh had been bearing the Hungarian name of Pest Ujak. But the name of “palanka” i.e. in Turkish a fortress, comes from the end of XVI century when the Ottoman Empire had taken possession of the trenches constructed by the Serbian gentry. When the town had been liberated from Turks the Serbian families cast out from Kosovo had been settled here. Stara Palanka became one of the towns on this bank of the Danube mostly peopled by Serbs. In XVIII century the German colonists came to co-exist in the best harmony with the Serbs until the II World War. These Germans used to go to the orthodox church. But the Slovaks who came to “fill in” the gap between the Serbs and the Germans on the right bank of the Danube in Nova Palanka had not been taken into account. After the violence 1939-45 the communists made everybody agreed, and had brought all entirely refunded communities together under a neutral name of Backa Palanka.

The Danube has been spreading over the commune of Backa Palanka over more than 25 km in length with a channel arranged by the DTD norms connecting the Rhine with the Black Sea. The circulation of the barges or of pleasure boats has thus been entirely possible attached to the port an to the quays by ropes:
Tikvar, Brodarsko Naselje 4, Phone: (021) 741 263.

AROUND BACKA PALANKA

THE CASTLE OF CELAREVO - At 14 km away from Backa Palanka toward Novi Sad there is a residence of princes known by the lot historic developments at the end of XIX century. Constructed in 1837 in a neo-classical style by the country gentleman Nicholas Bezeredi had been bought by Lazar Dundjerski. He had been known in all the region of Novi Sad by his colossal richness. Bezeredi had even given a piano he had won at the gamble by a Russian spendthrift count, as a present. The residence became later a hearth receiving the great Serbian poet Laza Kostic, who even became the godfather to many children of the industrialist. One of the daughters of Dundjerski used to play piano in front of the entrance to the residence, and that had been Kostic’s inspiration for one of his best poems, an ode to the love he had dedicated the last days of his “Santa Maria de la Salute”.

This special residence typical for the XIX century has been interesting for the easiness of its lines and its decorations in the yellow shades. In the inner side a museum had been opened with the celebrated piano and the aristocratic furniture of the epoch.

On the Danube a restaurant on the way from Backa Palanka one may go in for the pleasures of motor skiing and of nautical skiing.

THE HUNTING GROUND OF KARADJORDJEVO - Eleven kilometres to the West away from Backa Palanka there is the hunting ground preferred by the communist leader Tito who used to take here his foreign guests. Realised in 1885 in the place of one of the greatest “ergela” in Europe, an Austro-Hungarian horse farm, it has been known as a richest hunting ground. The stag, the deer, the mouflon and the hares have been running here in abundance. Karadjordjevo has doubtless been the best organised hunting ground in Serbia. The watching tours and then the gathering the animals have been at the disposal. You may hire the weapons and the hounds.
But Karadjordjevo has also been an important natural reservation. One may find 135 bird species, 67 of which have been on the list of the disappearing ones in Europe.

For these attractive reasons many types of lodging have been recommended. There is first a possibility to spend one or more nights in the hunting house of “Diana” situated 7 km away from the entrance to the reservation. But the hunting centre of “Vranjak” with its annexes an bungalows more inside the hunting ground has been offering the seductive attractions.
For the lodgement and the hunting licence address the Military Institution of Karadjordjevo, Phone: (021) 765 107.

THE FORTIFIED TOWN OF BAC - At 23 km North away from Backa Palanka, on the road to Sombor don’t miss visiting the remnants of the ancient medieval fortress. Here could be seen the remains of the most ancient fortress of Vojvodina with the walls with trenches remained intact in this place. The history of this fortified place has been characterised by the whirls and the convulsions in the development of this region. the Avars already, according to the scriptures from 873, had constructed here a fortress from wood on a knoll. The Hungarian king Stephan had fortified the Avar construction with stones, and under the dynasty of Arpads Bac became a royal town where the counts and the bishops used to hold their assemblies. Finally, between 1338 and 1342 the fortress had got its present aspect under the king Charles d’Anjou.

Around the trenches there are many monuments to visit. The Turkish hammam constructed in 1526 after the victory of the Ottomans at Mohacz against the Hungarians; one of the best preserved oriental monuments in the region. There remained also the ceramic channels to provide the warm and cold water to the bath. The church of “Samostan Franjevacki”. Composed by a medieval belfry on a square tower and a more recent building, this church symbolized the unsteadiness of the history of the town. Erected in 1169 by the Templars it had been a monastery obeying the ancient Roman and the early Gothic styles visible close to the tower. But Turks had transformed it into the mosque, and that is why there remained only the belfry until present. In the inside you would not miss to observe the icon by the painter Dime painted 1867 representing Christ. Next to the church there is one of the richest religious libraries of the country, where the books from XV century have been preserved.

THE MONASTERY OF BODJANI. -Continuing your travel after Bac you would come to this orthodox monastery known by keeping the liturgical objects originating from the monastery of Manasija since the Serbian migration of 1690. In 1478 the rich merchant Bogdan had constructed the church because there had been discovered a source which, they said, could cure the eye diseases. Turks had destroyed it, and thereafter the monks had reconstructed it, but that was of a short duration because the catholic revolt of Rakoczy had again annihilated the monastery. The present building from XVII century had been erected by the rich Segedinian Mihajlo Temisvarlija. This church, built in the baroque style very spread out in Vojvodina has been dominated by a belfry in the bulb shape constructed in XIX century.
In the choir, at the bottom there is a procession of martyrs and Serbian kings, while the dome has been decorated by the scenes from the Old Testament with the prophets and patriarchs. In the inside there is a museum also interesting with the manuscript from that period, the oil paintings, church vessels and a medieval printing machine.