Arača

Arača (Serbian Cyrillic, Hungarian: Aracs) is a medieval Romanesque church ruin located about 12 km north of Novi Bečej, Serbia. The Department for protection and scientific study of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade issued a decision in 1948, in which the Romanesque church of Arača was placed under state protection. It was built in the Kingdom of Hungary around 1230 and then went through hardships thorough its history: it was robbed and devastated in 1280 and then reconstructed in 1370 as required by Queen Elizabeth at which time the Gothic tower as seen nowadays, was probably built. In 1417 Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević took control of it. Later it belonged to Serbian despot Đurađ Branković who gave it away to Pál Birinyi. In 1551 Ottomans burned the cathedral down and it was never reconstructed again. In the end of the 18th century it was owned by the Sissány family. Extensive excavation and general protection of the archaeological sites and conservation-restoration works took place in the period 1970-1978 organized by Regional Institute For Protection Of Cultural Monuments / Vojvodina, Novi Sad /, and they were headed up by archaeologist of Vojvodina Museum Sandor Nagy in Novi Sad. Conservation and restoration work, and work on technical documentation were organized by Miomir Petrović, technician conservator of the Provincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, with the involvement of Milka Čanak, conservator of the Republic Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments, Belgrade. The ruin is on the right terrace, about 13 km east of the Tisa river bed. The church and monastery are on the bank of Crna bara at an altitude of 80.00 meters. This swampy depression is on the same altitude as the Tisa. Arača was connected with Bečej fortress, on the bank of the Tisa, and nowadays the route is still visible through the middle of the raster field, with a length of about 13 km.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).