Bela Crkva - the Venice of Vojvodina: This town on 7 lakes is "the pearl necklace" of Banat

Photo: Ivan Strahinic

Bela Crkva is located in the Southern Banat District, about a hundred kilometers from Belgrade. It is a small town on seven lakes that has had as many as four names since the 14th century.

Recommended

In addition to the Serbian name, in official documents from 1355 to 1459 it was called Fehertemplom. Then from 1717 to 1872 it referred to as Weisskirchen, and then as Biserica Alba. These were Bela Crkva's names in Hungarian, German and Romanian.

The founder of Bela Crkva was Count Claudius Florimund de Mercy, commander of the imperial province of Banat and President of the Banat People's Administration. In 1717, he made the decision to establish a town that has a view of the Ram Fortress across the Danube.

Today, Bela Crkva is known as "the Venice of Vojvodina," of Banat, or as "the town on seven lakes." The Danube flows in its vicinity, as well as rivers Karas and Nera, the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal, and there are the said seven lakes.

They were created at the beginning of the last century, during extraction and exploitation of gravel for industrial use and have long been the main tourist attraction of this part of Banat. The most popular among them are Gradsko, Sljunkara, Saransko and Vracevgajsko lakes, while the others are not urbanized and are characterized by untouched nature but are unfit for swimming.

Because of the richness of flora and fauna, these lakes have been presented in foreign media as the "pearl necklace of Banat."

Photo: Ivan Strahinic

(Ona.rs)