Filed Under Novi Sad
The novel by Claudio Magris: The Danube
Back to the Danube real and proper. Novi Sad was once the "Serbian
Athens", a cradle of the cultural and political rebirth of Serbia. Today
it is the capital of the Vojvodina. In the public offices and in Parliament
there are five official languages (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak,
Rumanian and Ruthenian), even though the supremacy of Serbian is
indubitable, and in the army total. The countryside is superb, the
fortress of Petrovaradin, with its memories of Austrian and Turkish
occupation, stands high above the Danube, while hidden in the nearby
woods of the Fruška-Gora are the Orthodox monasteries with their
icons and their immemorial peace.