Photographers Conquer the Fortress

As a strategic military post, Petrovaradin Fortress was not accessible to photographers. They could only take photos from afar, from the opposite bank of the Danube, and even that had to be done secretly in order to avoid problems with the military or the police. However, there were skillful photographers as early as in the 19th century, those who – despite the clumsiness of their equipment – managed to save the Fortress for posterity on rather interesting shots. Thus, they recorded the works on the railway tunnel under the Fortress, construction of the bridges in its immediate surrounding, high water levels and floods at the foot of Fortress, steamboats passing by, opening of barge-held pontoon bridges... Toward the end of the 19th century, the most agile photographers, those who worked outside of their studios, were Johann Rechnitzer and Josip Singer. They printed their photos in the form of postcards and sold them through the eminent booksellers of Novi Sad: Ivković, Ležimirac, Janković and others.

 After the Great War, some photographers arrived at Petrovaradin Fortress in their military uniforms. There was a flight training centre, and the pilots used the so-called 'photo-machineguns' which recorded the results of target-shooting from the airplanes. There were also recon-pilots whose training included aerial photography. It was around 1920 that these pilots produced first aerial snapshots of Novi Sad and Petrovaradin as part of the exercise. One of the most successful men was the Slovene Josip Župančić whose good photos have been preserved.
After the second world war, the first to take photos of the Fortress from an airplane was Bogdan Marcikić, photographer of the Army Hall and, later, of the Museum of the Revolution. The bird's-eye view of Petrovaradin Fortress proved impressive enough as recorded in 1950's by Tomislav Filipović, civil engineerning technician and tennis-player (and coach) of the Vojvodina Tennis Club of Novi Sad.

The Pictures of War Frenzies
Many bridges have so far been built at the foot of Petrovaradin Fortress: pontoon and railway bridges, those made of steel and some made of concrete. In times of warfare, they all saw the same end – on the bottom of the Danube. They were destroyed by the enemies, by the allies or by ourselves (in order to prevent the enemy from advancing). Thus, the same end befell Potiorek* Bridge, Prince Tomislav** Bridge, Marshal Tito*** Bridge, Varadin Bridge... On all of the photos depicting the bridges while under construction or in ruins, there is always the unchanged Petrovaradin Fortress. It was on the Danube under the Fortress that formations or units of the river fleet posed for the photographs while demonstrating their power through the latest models of gunboats and all sorts of weaponry.
Yet when the power began to retreat before reason, the army began to leave Petrovaradin Fortress. That is when the gates of the Fortress were opened for the public – including photographers. What they were eager to do first was to – like Gyula Brezsan, the photoreporter of the daily Magyar Szó – enter the mysterious dungeons of the Fortress.

When painters moved into the numerous art studios, some photographers came with them. One of the oldest was Jovan Polzović, who opened a studio on the most attractive location and developed a lively career; noteworthy are his prize-winning photos taken at the Fortress that were on display within the famous 'Golden Eye' (Zlatno oko) exhibitions.

Inspiring for Ever
One can say nowadays that there has not been one photography-lover who visited Petrovaradin Fortress without taking a few snapshots at least. It has been estimated that – due to the massive tourism – several million photos of Petrovaradin Fortress have been made. Most of these found their way to family albums, an indefinite number has been included in all sorts of publications, newspapers, magazines; likewise, a great many TV programmes and film stories have had the Fortress as setting. Most prominent authors in the field of photography have produced their greatest achievements at the Fortress. Besides Polzović, those who inhabited the studios on the Fortress include Gavrilo Grujić, Dragan Kurucić, Željko Škrbić, Martin Candir, Srđan Stevanov... But there are other photographic studios there as well: those of the Novi Sad City Museum and of the Provincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage; old photos are safeguarded at the Novi Sad City Archives, while the Academy of Arts has established a photography section.


Photographic Works to Remember
In the autumn of 1961, Petrovaradin Fortress was visited by the participants of the Non-Aligned Conference held in our country, heads of some 30 states from all continents. The guests included: Emperor Haile Selassie [of Ethiopia],  Jawaharlal Nehru [India], Gamal Abdel Nasser [Egypt], Sirimavo Bandaranaike [Sri Lanka], Archbishop Makarios III [Cyprus], Josip Broz Tito... Naturally enough, cameras recorded this extraordinary event at Petrovaradin Fortress. On the evening of their visit,  magnificent fireworks display attracted the citizens of Novi Sad, and the spectacular event at the Fortress was recorded by photographers.
Géza Barta, a legendary figure of Vojvodina's photography, produced an uncountable quantity of the shots dealing with the Fortress and the details of this grandiose edifice. One of the marvellous photos taken by Barta inspired Draško Ređep, man of letters, to write the following lines in one of his essays:
"That murky sky over the massif of Petrovaradin Fortress, above the water, that is the sky over Toledo painted by El Greco. The sky and that fortress - jutting out into the water, the Danube – which in the nights awaiting storm is calmness that stirs unrest and re-invokes the memories of old wars... Carried out without any petty realistic 'embroidery' and viewing primarily the profile of a Vauban fortification in a way that would stir up even Magritte, conditioned by but actually powerfully enriched by the presence of water and blurred, fluid reflections, this photograph – often reproduced – has certainly, and for such a long time, been a superior mark of this land-held promontory that juts out into the dark Danubian water, fully symbolic, with those illuminated wall planes, sensual, senior-ranked, almighty..."
The photos depicting Petrovaradin Fortress as seen by Géza Barta's eye have become available for ever in printed form within the first post-war photo-monograph of Vojvodina: through the book, they have been distributed all over the world. Similarly, the photos by Belgrade's artist Mile Đorđević found their routes to worldwide destinations; they were published in the guidebook on Petrovaradin Fortress published by Matica Srpska in 1963. The number of other publications presenting the photographs of the Fortress is beyond one's summarizing capacities, and they have displayed the visual approach of many authors, including Dimitrije Manolev, Stevan Lazukić, Borivoj Mirosavljević, Jovan Vajdl, Julije Brežan, Geza Lenert, Martin Candir, Gavrilo Grujić, Borislav Vojnović, Ljubiša Savić, Stevan Zrnić...
[2002] Borivoj Mirosavljević