The Novi Sad the fortress doesn't cover
A synagogue turned concert hall, an artists' colony inside the fortress itself, and the city's largest Orthodox church — three places the five main sights leave out.
- The synagogue
- Built 1905–1909
- The artists' colony
- On the fortress since 1952
- Almaška Church
- The city's largest Orthodox church
The five main sights fill the fortress and the centre; these three are what is left once that is done. The 1909 synagogue is no longer a place of worship but a concert hall, an artists' colony has worked inside the fortress itself since 1952, and Almaška Church is the city's largest Orthodox church, off the usual route to the river.
The synagogue — a concert hall since 2012
The Hungarian architect Lipót Baumhorn built the synagogue between 1905 and 1909, in the Hungarian Secession style, with a dome 40 metres high and seating for 900 worshippers. The congregation used it for services until the mid-1960s; since 2012 it has been a concert hall, mostly for programmes by Muzička Omladina Novog Sada, whose acoustics and interior draw in audiences who would not otherwise go to a classical concert. Entry is with a concert ticket — the building is not open for viewing outside a scheduled programme.
The artists' colony on the fortress
Above the underground galleries, in the fortress itself, an artists' colony founded by the sculptor Jovan Soldatović has been running since 1952. Over some seventy years, close to four hundred painters, sculptors and printmakers have worked through about eighty studios; one of them, Atelje 61, founded in 1961, is today the only gallery in this part of the Balkans dedicated entirely to woven textile art. The studios are not toured like a museum with fixed hours — the door is open when the artist inside is working.
Almaška Church — the largest in the city
The Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs, known to everyone as Almaška after the old Serbian settlement it grew out of, is the largest Orthodox church in Novi Sad. The current building went up between 1797 and 1808, in early Classicist style, with a massive bell tower on the west front; the iconostasis and wall paintings are the work of Arsenije Teodorović. It stands about ten minutes' walk from Trg Slobode, in the opposite direction from Dunavska, so it sits off the route most visitors take towards the river.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Can the synagogue be visited without a concert?
Not practically — it opens for Muzička Omladina Novog Sada programmes, and is not open for viewing outside them.
Can the studios on the fortress be visited?
Yes, but with no fixed schedule — the door is open when the artist inside is working, not like a museum.
Where is Almaška Church relative to the centre?
About ten minutes' walk from Trg Slobode, in the opposite direction from Dunavska and the river.
Ready for Novi Sad?
Where to next
What to eat in Novi Sad
→Fish soup from the kettle, perkelt and poppy-seed strudel — and the salaš, where lunch is the whole programme.
Sremski Karlovci · 9 km
→The peace of 1699, a school from 1791, and bermet from the cellars
How well does Novi Sad suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Front row for the next trip
Leave your email and we'll let you know when a new destination or story goes up.