Fantast Castle ( sr, Фантаст/), also known as Dunđerski Palace (Serbian: Дворац Дунђерски''/Dvorac Dunđerski''), is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

built by

Bogdan Dunđerski Bogdan or Bohdan (Cyrillic: Богдан) is a Slavic masculine name that appears in all Slavic countries as well as Romania and Moldova. It is derived from the Slavic words ''Bog/Boh'' (Cyrillic: Бог), meaning " god", and ''dan'' (Cyrillic: ...

from 1919 onwards. Dundjerski family originally came from

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geograp ...

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

(

) in the late nineteenth century and at one point he owned 1500 hectares of land. The castle became one of the most famous castles in the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with t ...

. It was heavily bombed in 1945, and subsequently seized by the government of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, who proclaimed it as state wealth. Most of the original furnishings were removed, and today only 65 hectares of the surrounding land remain part of the castle's grounds. It is said that Bogdan Dunđerski built the lavish castle and lands to prove to all that he was not bankrupt as had been rumored. He never married but it was known that he had a great fondness for fine women, horses and wine.

Today

The castle lies 12 km from the town of

Bečej Bečej ( sr-cyrl, Бечеј, ; hu, Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. ...

and about 60 km from

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...

and today it is used as a tourist destination, where it serves as a hotel with restaurant. Tourists are free to enter and explore the castle's large park and the mausoleum where former owners are buried as well as play on the tennis courts and use the runway for small airplanes. A fully functioning horse stable and farm still exists, it was famed for producing some of the best thoroughbreds in the lands, once numbering 1400. There is also the Church of St George, inside of which is a painting of the Virgin Mary by the artist

Uroš Predić Uroš Predić ( sr-Cyrl, Урош Предић, ; Orlovat, 7 December 1857 – Belgrade, 12 February 1953) was a Serbian Realist painter. Predić is perhaps best known for his early works depicting ordinary people, as well as his many portra ...

, however it is said that the face was changed to that of Mara Dinjacki (the blacksmith's wife), whom Dunđerski was in love with. There is also a small ostrich farm to visit and guided tours around the castle and lands are 1 euro per person.

Gallery

Fantast zamak, kapela.jpg, Chapel in complex of Fantast Castle in Bečej

References

External links

Hotel FANTAST - Official sitewww.dvorci.info
Castles in Serbia Manor houses in Serbia Protected Monuments of Culture Bečej 1925 establishments in Serbia Hotels in Serbia {{Serbia-struct-stub

Today

Gallery

See also

References

External links