Bačka Fortress 30, Bač, Serbia
The first traces of Bač date back to the period of Emperor Justinian I, when the emperor mentioned Bač in his letter in 535 AD. In 873, the city was a fortress of the Avars, and in the 12th century, the Bač fortress was built here — the main attraction of this area. In 1241, the Mongols invaded Bač and destroyed it. The fortress in Bač, which today is the oldest fortress in Vojvodina, was built by the Hungarian King Robert of Anjou between 1338 and 1342. The fortress was built on a small island formed by a bend in the Mostonga River, on the left bank of the Danube, on the border with Croatia. It belongs to the so-called "Water Towns," as it was surrounded by the river on all sides, and access was via drawbridges. Although the Bač fortress is not located directly on the Danube, it is considered a Danube fortification because it lies within its basin and in close proximity.
Extensive reconstruction work on the castle was carried out by Archbishop Petrus de Varda between 1490 and 1495. He rebuilt the fortress and the town, as well as expanded the Mostonga River so that ships from the Danube could reach the fortress. On this occasion, the defensive system was strengthened by adding elements adapted to artillery warfare, and at the same time, a palace was added near the northern tower, featuring stone sculptures executed in the spirit of the early Renaissance. It appears that Italian stonemasons and fortification experts worked on the reconstruction and expansion of Bač at the end of the 15th century. The foundation of the fortification is adapted to the terrain and has the shape of an irregular quadrilateral with towers at the corners. The wider settlement complex, in whose northern part the castle was located and separated by a moat, was surrounded by ramparts with a palisade and had only brick gates on the eastern side. The castle is built entirely of brick and has a trapezoidal base. In the northwest corner, there is a tower with a square base, while the other three towers are round. In the middle of the southern rampart were the gates, of which no visible traces remain. In front of the gates stood a barrack with a round base, of which only traces remain. Inside, in the southeast, there is a well-preserved watchtower (Didić, 2009). Bač with its fortified castle was captured by the Turks shortly after the Battle of Mohács, in 1529. Descriptions of the fortress in the travel notes of Evliya Çelebi refer to the period when Bač became part of the Szeged sanjak. It was liberated in 1687, but soon after, during the Rákóczi uprising in 1703, Bač was burned and partially destroyed. Over time, the Mostonga River dried up, and with it, the former importance of the fortress disappeared.
The fortress is a very important historical site. The foundation of the fortress is an irregular pentagon with four protruding towers at the corners, which were connected by a large wall, preserved today to a lesser extent. The towers vary in shape and size. Three corner towers have a round base, and the northwest one has a quadrangular base. The only separately standing and restored building inside the fortress is the donjon tower with a square base, located in the eastern part of the fortress. On the southern side are the remains of a separate defensive tower — a barbican. During archaeological excavations in 2004-2006, a structure adjacent to the northeast rampart, identified as a palace, was investigated, as well as a round cistern on the plot between the donjon tower and the southeast rampart. The complex is insufficiently studied; the protruding towers in the upper zones are inaccessible and unsafe for direct investigation, resulting in a lack of necessary data on construction and building technology. Unfortunately, much data has been irretrievably lost and removed. Considering that systematic archaeological research and material expertise have begun, conditions are now being created to intensify attention to various open questions related to construction.
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