Founded by the king Charles Robert I, the fortress was the most important Hungarian rampart against the invading Ottoman forces and today is the best preserved medieval fort in Vojvodina.

During the Árpád dynasty, Bač became not only the ecclesiastical seat of the Archdiocese of Kalocsa, but a royal city, where nobles and rulers came to their councils and assemblies.

Roads from and to Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean all crossed here, and the tall central tower allowed the overseeing and control of the lowlands and both the river and the land traffic.

Archbishop Péter Váradi [hu] expanded and embellished the fortress and also dredged the Mostonga so that ships from the Danube were able to reach the fort.

Surrounding the city was also a developing civilian settlement, which could be entered through the fortress drawbridge gate, named the "Spike".

The fortress was mined with explosives in 1704, during the Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–11),[1] and was subsequently abandoned as it was left burned, demolished, and without the previous military importance it had.

On 25 November 1918, the local assembly of Banat, Bačka and Baranja voted unification with Serbia, which, in turn, merged into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 December 1918, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.

The Fortress in Bač is known as one of the so-called "water towns", because it used to be surrounded by the Mostonga river on all sides, approachable only by the drawbridges.

It consists of 36 houses in the typical lowland Vojvodina style and is protected, together with the fort, as the Spatial Cultural-Historical Units of Exceptional Importance.

The houses were built from the 18th to the 20th century, and residents are not allowed to change façades without prior consent from the institutes in charge of protection.

Later exploration by Aleksandar Deroko and Đurđe Bošković contributed to the declaration of the fortress as a cultural monument in 1948, among the first in Serbia.

The southern and eastern parts of the ramparts were thoroughly explored and restored, which made them visible above the ground, including the main tower with the gate.

The new entry point was made across the wooden bridge through the former pedestrian gate which to the visitors gives the sense to the enclosed yard and understanding of the space which was defended.

As over 60% of the originally built objects is lost for good, the interventions here included the conservation of the remains and "gentle" restoration and remediation.

[7] In 2022, the municipality of Bač started an initiative to revitalized the entire Bać area for the World Heritage Site application.

In the Podgrađe area, 36 of the currently remaining houses are planned to be preserved, refurbished and turned into restaurants, souvenir shops, cafés, ethno-houses and lodgings, inspired by similar efforts done in Alberobello, Italy.

There are plans to restore an old Turkish bath, the only preserved Hammam in Vojvodina, located south from the old river bed.