NOVI SAD - In Your Pocket

36 What to see
premises of the Museum of the City and numerous art
ateliers, galleries, and artisan workshops. The terrace of
the fortress, by the Clock Tower, boasts splendid views
of the town.
The clock on the Tower is unique in that the big hand tells
hours and the small one minutes. This was allegedly done
so that the boatmen travelling on the Danube could see
the time from a long distance. The clock is slow when it
is cold and fast when it is hot, so people have dubbed it a
‘drunken clock’. The fortress features several restaurants
and night clubs and it is famous for EXIT - the best music
festival in Europe 2007. Were it not for the scarcity of
garbage bins and rather random park cleaning service, it
would have been perfect.
You may get to the top plateau of the fortress by car,
just follow the signs for Leopold Hotel. If on your way up
you should see a lonely vehicle and some commotion
inside, don’t worry, with the crime rate so small as in Novi
Sad, that must be an amorous couple, but give it a wide
berth anyway. The long arched passage is too narrow
for two-way traffic, so do follow the instructions by the
officers placed at its ends, who communicate the arrival
of vehicles to one another over the radio set. You can get
to the fortress by bus Nº3, taxi, or take a leisurely walk,
because it is not too far.
The bridges The first temporary pontoon bridge was
erected in 16 century by Turkish army, before that inhabitants
and soldiers had used ferry boat to cross the river Danube.
First permanent, iron bridge named Franz Joseph, designed
by Karl Baumann, was built in 1883. The remains of this
bridge can still be seen.
Novi Sad bridges were demolished and rebuilt couple of
times during city’s history. There are three bridges that
connect the Danube banks today: Varadin bridge, Raillway
and Liberty bridge.
Jewish Novi Sad
Novi Sad’s beach on the Danube is the place to be during the warmer months of the year
Jewish community Novi Sad B-2, Jevrejska 11,
tel. 42 38 82. The Jewish community of Novi Sad was
allowed to build its first synagogue in the early 18th
century. The local Jewish community belonged culturally
to the Hungarian Jewry. Only about a quarter of the more
than 4,000 Jews of Novi Sad survived the Holocaust
that followed the German invasion of Yugoslavia in
1941 and the annexation of Novi Sad to Hungary. Over
800 Jews of Novi Sad - men, women and children of all
ages - were murdered during massacres conducted by
the Hungarian police against Jews and Serbs in January
1942. In May 1944, the synagogue of Novi Sad served as
an arrest house for the Jews of Novi Sad and it was from
there that they were deported to the Nazi extermination
camps. The synagogue was consecrated again in 1945
when it became the focal point of the revived Jewish life
in the city. The Jewish population of Novi Sad dwindled
further as many members of the local community chose
to immigrate to Israel and other countries in the 1950’s.
There were an estimated 400 Jews in Novi Sad in the
early years of the 21st century.
Synagogue B-2, Jevrejska 11. One of Novi Sad
landmarks This impressive building in the style of
Hungarian secession was completed in 1909. As the
Jewish community no longer could support the costs
of maintenance, in 1991 it was leased to the city for
a period of twenty five years. Taking advantage of the
fine acoustics of the synagogue building, the city, having
restored the interior, decided to use it as a concert hall for
classic and other music events. The Jewish community,
nevertheless, is able use the synagogue whenever it
wishes, as they do each year, for celebrating major
Jewish holidays.
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