The first fortress on the Danube through Serbia and the only one located on the left side of the river is the Bač Fortress, the most important and best preserved medieval fortress in Vojvodina. It is 15 km away from the coast and the town Bačko Novo Selo, surrounded by nature reserves and hunting grounds: “Karađorđevo” and “Plavna”. The fortress is named after the Place Bač, which was first mentioned in the 12th century, when it was inscribed on Roger’s map of the World. The town was located in a strategically important place on the border of powerful empires and kingdoms on the Danube, which was conquered by: Avars, Turks and Mongols. Once a witness to a great and turbulent history, many conflicts and sufferings, today Bač is a peaceful town through whose cultural heritage its glorious past is hinted at. The key to understanding the history and spirit of this place has been preserved in the construction of different cultures: Catholic, Orthodox and Ottoman, as evidenced by the Bač Fortress, the Bođani Monastery, the Franciscan monastery and the remains of a hammam. In ancient times, there was the Pannonian Sea in the area of ​​Bačka, whose traces we can see in the impenetrable plain of Vojvodina. So far, over 300 archeological sites dating from prehistory to The Middle Ages have been discovered in the sandy and swampy land. The greatest discovery is a small statue of the Red-haired Goddess, excavated near Odžaci, which testifies that 8000 years ago there was a settlement of prehistoric man in the area of ​​today’s Bačka. Traces of ancient peoples from the period of The Neolithic, Antiquity and The Middle Ages were also found on the Bač fortress itself, which was built in the 15th century by the Hungarian king Carlo Robert of Anjou.

In less than four years, the Hungarian king built one of the largest Pannonian fortresses. The reason for such rapid construction was the frequent pressure of the army of the Serbian emperor Dušan on the Hungarian border. The fortified castle, built on the foundations of a Neolithic settlement, had defensive towers, palaces, chambers of the district governor, corridors, watchtowers, a kitchen, a well, a barn and many other buildings. The fortress was a water city, surrounded by the river Mostong, which went from Sombor to Bač, dividing Bačka in half, and near the place Mladenovo it flowed into the Danube. It meandered near the fortress and formed several smaller islands. On one was a fortress, on the other a suburb, and between them on the third the Barbakan tower.

Mostonga is no more, but from the first drawings we see that the island with the fortress, surrounded by water and forest, was an ideal place to live.

Passing through Šiljak, the gate that was once surrounded by water, the suburban area was entered. Many houses that make up the suburbs today are houses from the 18th century. We have no knowledge of what the suburbs looked like in the Middle Ages. Some records say that there was a port which was connected to the Danube and in which merchant ships anchored.

Passing through Podgrađe, you reached the first line of defense, the Barbakan tower. Towers of this type are very rare in the area of ​​today’s Vojvodina, but it is known that they were created as an influence of the engineering architecture of the Renaissance. The most impressive and the only preserved building inside the fortified castle is the Donjon Tower or the Tower of the Last Defense. Above the second floor, on the outer wall of the tower, the coat of arms of Hungary is inscribed as an important testimony that the Bač fortress was a fortified castle of the archbishop and a church property built by the Hungarian king.

That Bač was an important military, political, cultural and ecclesiastical headquarters, which in the 16th century had the status of a royal city, are evidenced by parts of terracotta, stone decorative plastics, and numerous decorative and useful objects exhibited in the renovated Donžon Tower.

The fortress was rebuilt and strengthened by the Ugric people for several centuries, awaiting the attack of the Turks. In 1529, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent attacked the Bačka fortress, which was defended for only one day. That is how the most important fortress in the south of the Kingdom of Hungary fell into the hands of the Turks, almost without a fight, and Bač became a Turkish city. The Turkish bath (hammam) has been preserved from that period, as well as the remains of the mosque still visible in the interior of the Franciscan monastery in the center of Bač.

For a long time, the Bač fortress was in ruins and deserted, waiting for reconstruction and great research. Renovated and open to visitors, it is today the jewel of the Bačka plain. Like no other fortress on the Danube, it has a special beauty and exudes a peace that you can rarely find anywhere else. It is also magnificent for its stories and secrets that it still hides in the centuries-old walls and waves of the Danube. Its beauty is admired by all those who have been to Bač at least once to visit the fortress, the Bođani monastery or the Franciscan monastery, or to enjoy the nature that surrounds them. We believe that it will be recognized beyond the borders of Serbia for its importance and beauty and inscribed on the UNESCO list of world heritage