Petrovaradin

Petrovaradin occupies a rocky height on the right bank of the Danube. The site has held fortifications since Roman times, and in the thirteenth century King Béla IV endowed a Cistercian abbey here. Its commanding position later made it a stronghold on the frontier between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, protected by an extensive system of bastions and underground passages.

The Ottomans captured Petrovaradin in 1526. After the Habsburgs established control in the late seventeenth century, they began a vast new fortress, laying its foundation stone in 1692. Work continued for much of the eighteenth century, creating upper and lower fortifications and a bridgehead across the river. In 1716, while construction was still underway, Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated an Ottoman army near the fortress. The completed defences stood among the monarchy's great strongholds on the Danube.