Osijek

Spacious between wheat fields and the Drava River, rich in social and cultural content, airy and surrounded by natural beauty - a city made to measure. It is the fourth-largest city in Croatia with 108,048 inhabitants. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural center of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative center of Osijek-Baranja County. Osijek is located on the right bank of the Drava River.Since prehistoric times, the area of ​​the Pannonian Plain has been a civilization “hotspot”. During antiquity, it was inhabited by the Romans, and then in the Middle Ages by the Slavs and Ugrians (Hungarians). Having conquered Slavonia and a large part of Hungary, in the middle of the 16th century the Ottomans built the eighth wonder of the world here - the wooden Suleiman's Bridge, which led from Osijek, over seven kilometers of swamps, to the center of Baranja, Darda. After the Ottomans were suppressed by the Austrians at the end of the 17th century (by burning the bridge along the way), a new phase of Osijek's architectural "boom" began. The fortified, central part of the city, which at that time consisted of three separate settlements, was declared a military center. By 1722, one of the largest fortresses in Croatia, also known as Tvrđa, would emerge from the swamp.

№59 in Cities of Croatia