Дворци Србије

Weindler's Castle (Wendel Mor Summer House)

Sonta

Somewhat unclear, this castle bears two surnames, which are obviously a variation of the same name. Some 5 km from the Danube, on the road from Sonta to Odžaci, there is, as in a bush worthy of Indiana Jones, the abandoned estate of the landowner Mor Wendell, who was a Hungarian Jew. Until a few years ago, in great condition, it is now crumbling because the company that managed the castle is now bankrupt. The summer house was built by Balint Fernbach at the end of the 19th century, but it was later bought by the Apatin landowner Wendel Mor (in Hungarian, in the order of names and surnames), as a family holiday home, and he did not change anything on it. After the First World War and the Agrarian Reform, Wendell Mor, as he was deprived of a huge amount of land, decided to leave Sonta. According to some sources that are contradictory, he then sold the summer house and the estates again to Balint Fernbach, who had estates in Apatin and was the owner of the Debeljača wasteland.

The green summerhouse is a single storey building, which is located in a spacious park, and the owner’s vision is clearly recognizable: to make an unpretentious summer house for rest and living. It is surrounded by a park and makes direct contact with nature through centrally placed steps that lead to a spacious protruding terrace in the portico. The building itself was raised above the level of the surrounding terrain, since the Danube is especially flooded on that bend – to protect against floods.

Logically placed windows, compact, almost square base and simply solved truss, indicate that the architectural idea of ​​a summer house or a field villa was brought to a typical pattern, as from Russian novels – which is a classic summer house of Central Europe at that time. The facade bears elements of historicism.

As for the new owners, Károly Fernbach, as well as the entire Fernbach family, was very rich, and he was also the Bács-Bodrog county ruler chairing in Sombor. His brothers also built castles: Joseph had a castle in Apatin (which was later bought from him by Dunđerski), Balint in Sonta and Krivaja, and Antal in Temerin.

Until recently, the castle was used by the administration of the agricultural property “Mladi Borac” and is in poor condition, and the park is completely overgrown, so it is impossible to approach from the rear to the castle, and almost impossible from the side. The park had rare trees and exotic dendrological species. The park leans on 150 hectares of untouched nature full of ponds, reeds and sedges, towards the Danube.

The gate is made of wrought iron, elegant white, but it is damaged. The fence at the entrance to the park was destroyed and taken away. The balustrades are intact, but the facade is falling apart and falling off. The castle is threatened with rapid devastation if restoration measures are not to be taken.

The summerhouse is registered as a cultural asset under the official name “Wendell’s castle with an economic yard”. Entrance is not allowed because it is located behind a locked gate guarded by the only guard on the former farm. Rarely does anyone in Sonta know anything about this object and it is difficult to find it.