Baba Pusta Castle

One more abandoned castle Baba Pusta, residence of nobleman Karoly Fernbah, is located 9 km from the village of Aleksa Santic, in Backa, near the border with Hungary. Of all the castles of Vojvodina this one is perhaps the most reminiscent of castles in Transylvania. It was built in 1907 and designed by the Hungarian architect Hikisch Reszo in secessionist style.

Family Fernbah had significant industrial facilities and large complexes of land in Backa, Banat and around Szeged in Hungary at the end of XIX and early XX century. Castle Baba Pusta, was just one of their many residences. Brothers Joseph, Janos Balint, Antal and Karoly owned numerous other castles in Vojvodina. Joseph had a castle near Apatin, Balint a summer house in Sonta and Antal had a castle in Temerin.

The castle is surrounded by a neglected park and a bunch of very dilapidated outbuildings. Park used to be arranged based on the principle of English gardens as an open space with an emphasized entrance facade with portico and a square bell tower at one side. The first Ginkgo in this part of Europe was planted here more than a hundred years ago as well as many other exotic and rare plant species from all continents.

Castle's original appearance

Half of the castle's roof is missing as well as other building materials. The interior is even more daunting than the exterior. Anything that could have been peeled, teared out, torn off, taken, used or sold is missing. Only bare walls are left, overwritten with graffiti. The interior, which once was enriched with various materials such as marble, wood, glass, chandeliers, a fireplace and representative pieces of furniture, was destroyed and those pieces stolen. Unusual and designed with special attention is a small family chapel, reached by a painted entrance hall. Despite being very destroyed and peeled, on the walls can still be seen images of certain saints and angels.

By the end of the seventies castle represented the headquarters of one agricultural company, but after the relocation of the management board, the building was left without any supervision. Back in the early fifties, the park was placed under state's protection (over 165 plant species were found) and declared a cultural property, but all in vain, since still no one is taking care of the place.

Today, Baba Pusta makes an ideal place for roaming, climbing and overall exploring of the surroundings. Despite being severely demolished, the castle still causes admiration of those who stumble upon it. But looking at a bigger picture, it is a rather sad sight.