The Hotel's History

Hotel “Jelisaveta” (1854)

Once the turmoil of war had subsided, Johan Ajgler decided to buy the land where the brewery had stood and to build an elite hotel in its place. In 1854 he completed the late-classicist building, fitted out with the most luxurious interior of its time.

The hotel was first named Hotel “Jelisaveta”, after Empress Elisabeth of Austria, then the wife of Franz Joseph. At the time it was widely known as a gathering place of the upper class, and the luxurious hotel was equally famed for its excellent cuisine and lavish dishes, as well as its superb wines. Parties and balls were frequently held for the elite, attended by the wealthier citizens of Novi Sad.

It is quite clear that the hotel was a cult venue of the city and that being seen at this elite address was a matter of prestige. Hotel Jelisaveta was where Novi Sad's gentry, artists and true bohemians regularly gathered. The place became especially lively when, as people said at the time, the “actors' brotherhood” moved into the courtyard — in the era when the hotel was owned by the renowned Lazar Dunđerski.

Hotel “Kraljica Marija”

When King Aleksandar Karađorđević the Unifier married Marija, at that time a Romanian princess, the hotel was renamed Hotel “Marija” in her honour, and in 1922 it took the name Hotel “Kraljica Marija” (Queen Marija). A particularly interesting detail is that this elite hotel had electric lighting as early as 1899, even though Novi Sad officially received electric lighting only in 1910.

The hotel's next owner was Gedeon Dunđerski, who was not as skilled a hotelier as Lazar Dunđerski, so he leased this elite building of its day to Frajd and Sons, and later to Karlo Šolc.

Hotel Marija was the most modern hotel in the city at the time, with specially fitted bathrooms with hot and cold running water — something even many houses in Novi Sad did not have. It was also loudly advertised as the finest and most luxurious hotel of its day in Novi Sad. Next to the hotel's kafana, right by the street entrance, the widely known textile shop of the Prodanović family occupied the right wing of the courtyard.

In the interwar years, the then well-known Lukac perfumery stood beside the kafana, while the right side of the courtyard housed the famous, exclusively furnished “Yellow Hall”. The exceptionally lively social life of Novi Sad's townsfolk revolved around this very kafana, set in the central part of the hotel's ground floor.

Architecture

On the street side the building stretches for 60 metres, with 24 vertical openings. Its façade is among the most interesting and most striking in the oldest part of the city, right in the centre. The hotel's late-classicist exterior, like its interior, has remained essentially unchanged to this day.

From its very beginnings to the present day, Hotel Vojvodina has had 61 rooms with 98 beds. Guests have at their disposal 20 single rooms, 16 double rooms and 15 double rooms with an additional auxiliary bed.

Hotel “Vojvodina” — from 1945 to Today

With the change of the socio-political system after the Second World War, the hotel was nationalised and received the name it still bears today — Hotel “Vojvodina”. It underwent a major renovation in 1980, when the so-called “Pivnica” beer hall reopened, at the time hugely popular with the youth of the day. The façade was renovated in 1995. Today's restaurant seats 80 guests, while a smaller hall is used for professional seminars and is equipped with an internet connection and a video projector.

After the Second World War the hotel hosted Miloš Crnjanski, Laza Kostić and Marko Miljanov. It is also known that the celebrated Hungarian writer Lajos Zilahy died in this hotel in 1974, and in his honour the passage connecting Kralja Aleksandra Street with the courtyard of Hotel Vojvodina was named after him.

With its compositional characteristics, Hotel “Vojvodina” is still regarded today as one of the most significant works of architecture in Novi Sad.