It is the capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. It is also the second-largest city in Serbia. Novi Sad was elevated to a free royal city by Maria Theresa in 1749. The Petrovaradin Fortress was built above the Danube River, which flows here, and served as a defense for the Habsburg Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire. It was constructed between 1692 and 1780. The fortress served the military as a strategic location until the Second World War. It is nicknamed the “Gibraltar on the Danube.
