Castles Of Serbia

Neuhausen Castle

Srpska Crnja

Neuhausen Castle in Srpska Crnja is located right next to the main road leading to Romania, almost next to the border checkpoint. It is surrounded by a park on the former estate of Count Čekonjić, and in the immediate vicinity of Majur (farmstead) “Julija”. The castle was built by a German intelligence officer and general – Franz Neuhausen, to whom the castle was to serve as a summer house for rest and hunting. This is the only castle in the Banat area that was built during the Second World War, in the period from 1941 to 1943, for the needs of a high-ranking officer of the German occupation army, and the last in a series of built castles in Vojvodina, which were built in the period from eighteenth century till the beginning of World War II.

According to tradition, the castle was designed by an unknown Russian prisoner – an architect, obviously able to meet the requirements of the client and project a harmonious and functional architectural work. The castle is built in an eclectic manner with elements of classicism and baroque.

From the courtyard porch one enters the lounge with a fireplace and a wooden coffered ceiling. To the left of the salon is the economic part (kitchen), and to the right is another dining room. Upstairs there is another salon which is connected to the hall by three openings, the two lateral of which are glazed with stained glass. The stained glass windows are made in the manner of art deco and represent two saints with their attributes; one is St. Hubert – the patron saint of hunters, who holds a bishop’s staff in his hand, and the other is St. Eligius – the patron saint of craftsmen, who holds a church in his hand.

The owner of the castle is the Municipality of Nova Crnja, and since 1981 it houses a motel with a restaurant. On the first floor and attic there are 14 hotel rooms (5 large suites and 9 double rooms). Nikola from the Tourist Organization of Nova Crnja takes us through the castle and says that they were unlucky with the last tenant, a woman from Romania who, without consulting the Institute, cut down a number of trees around the castle and made poles with lamps out of them. Also made some troublesome changes to interior but nothing that cannot be repaired. The municipality of Nova Crnja has serious plans with the castle, since it entered the list of 25 castles that French experts will visit in September this year and which will be part of the cooperation between Serbia and France on the project “Serbian Castles – Protection of Cultural Heritage”. Also, thermal waters were discovered near the castle, which provides unimagined opportunities for the development of spa tourism.

This project was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.