2-996-005 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The town and fortress of Peterwarden, on the Danube - from a drawing by S. Read, 1860. 'Peterwardein, or Petervara, the principal and frontier fortress of Austrian Slavonia, the Gibraltar of Hungary, is situated...in the neighbourhood of some mountains and fruitful lulls, on the right bank of the Danube, near the angle formed by the sudden change in the course of that river from due south to east. On a rock isolated on three sides stands the upper fortress and the hornwork; on the northern foot of the rock lies the lower fortress, which includes what is properly the town, and is partly on a gentle slope. It commands the Danube, whose waters bathe the walls on the west and south sides. It is a place of extraordinary strength both by nature and art...The fortress is capable of containing a garrison of 10,000 men...It derives its name from Peter the Hermit, who here marshalled the soldiers of the first Crusade. In 1716 the Austrians, under Prince Eugene, here defeated the Turks, who then lost their last footing in Central Europe'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.