THE CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE - Petrovaradin

It is a two story building with a statue of St. Ignacio, the founder of the Christian order, on the facade. The building was (as a Jesuit Monastery) finished in 1734. Inside it there was a church school. In the 18th century, the headquarters of Jesuits was transformed into a parish church (for the soldiers of catholic religion). In one room on the first floor there is a plate dating from 1899, on which it is inscribed that a young captain Josip Juraj Štrosmajer (1815-1905) used to live here from 1838 to 1840. Ilija Okrugić Sremac, a poet and a playwright, used to live here for more than 30 years.

The independent church was built in baroque style, between 1701 and 1717. The frontage is decorated with statues of St. Francis Xavier, St. Jan Nepomuk, with a relief of Virgin Mary with Jesus, a big stylized cross and a plate of the Croatian King Tomislav. The underground corridors of the fortress reach even the church. Within the bed stones of the church there is a crypt, which is open for believers and visitors only on the All Saints‘Day (1st November), when the candles are lit and the service held. Apart from clergy and civilians, in the period from 1758 to 1868 military figures from Pertovaradin Fortress were also buried here. The burials were stopped out of health reasons. Out of 109 tombs in the wall, 23 are empty. There rest mostly the Senior Officers, among some was even of noble birth. Deep inside this spacious crypt there is the alter of the holy cross, with two marble angels, which are, according to their artistic value and looks considered to be the purest baroque in this region.

It is a one nave church, 35.72 m long and 15.45 m wide. It has 5 alters. In the main alter there is a plate on the visit of Franc Jozef (1830-1916) to this temple in 1852. The Prince Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević (1888-19649) was the guest of honor to the citizens of Petrovaradin in 1919.