“DUNĐERSKI” CASTLE AND PARK – Čelarevo

“DUNĐERSKI” CASTLE AND PARK – Čelarevo

In 1967, the Museum of Vojvodina was granted the use and administration of the Castle in Čelarevo. The castle, situated within a park setting, was built in the Classical style. It was commissioned by the Hungarian nobleman Nikola Bezerédi between 1834 and 1837, according to the designs of architects Aman and Hofman. From 1882 until the Second World War, it belonged to the renowned Dunđerski family. After the war, it was nationalized and used for official protocol purposes. Many distinguished public and cultural figures visited the castle during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Among them were Nikola Tesla, Paja Jovanović, Stevan Todorović, and Laza Kostić, who met Lenka Dunđerski at this castle and, in her honor, wrote his most celebrated love poem, Santa Maria della Salute.

The building was constructed as a summer residence in the Neoclassical style characteristic of the early 19th century. In 1968, the Museum of Vojvodina established a permanent exhibition of period furniture and decorative arts objects, created in styles ranging from Baroque and Rococo to Art Nouveau and Neoclassicism, collected from across Vojvodina. Today, the restored furniture is housed in the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad.

The Small Castle, also known as the Old Castle, is a single-story rectangular building located to the left of the park entrance. In 1798, a porch was added on the courtyard side, supported by slender wooden columns with decoratively carved capitals. The present street-facing façade features a shallow risalit with three windows. The front façade is adorned with a portico consisting of four Doric columns, a pediment, and a staircase. The main façade has four windows on each side, each crowned by a flat molded lintel supported by consoles. Beneath the windows are rectangular recessed panels decorated with six baluster-shaped ornaments. The Large Castle is complemented by a French-style garden in front and an English landscape park at the rear.

In 2000 and 2003, the castle’s furniture and the building’s façade were restored. In 1970, the complex was placed under state protection as a cultural monument of exceptional importance.

Text adapted from Guide to the Museums and Galleries of Vojvodina by Vladimir Mitrović and Lidija Mustedanagić.

NATURE PARK

The park surrounding the Čelarevo Castle is one of the more valuable examples of 19th-century landscape architecture in Serbia. It is a typical example of the mixed style that dominated garden design during that period, combining elements of both the French formal garden and the English landscape park. The park was established on the foundations of native vegetation, as evidenced by the preserved specimens of elm and oak trees, along with other naturally occurring tree species.

In 1968, the castle and its surrounding park were entrusted to the care and management of the Museum of Vojvodina, at which time the Čelarevo Park also received formal protection status.

The castle is not open to visitors.

17 Proleterska Street, Čelarevo
+381 (0)21 420-566
[email protected]
www.dvorcisrbije.rs/dvorad-bezeredi-dundjerski-celarevo/

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