Đakovo Cathedral

Đakovo is a small town on flat Slavonian farmland with a cathedral out of all proportion to it: a red brick basilica whose twin towers rise over eighty metres and are visible across the plain long before you arrive. Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer commissioned it in the 1860s and it took until 1882, built to Viennese designs in a Romanesque revival style, with an interior of vaults and walls covered in painted biblical scenes. The town also holds a state stud farm that has bred Lipizzaner horses since the eighteenth century, a short walk from the cathedral and open to visitors by arrangement.

What you actually see

• The twin brick towers - over eighty metres, the landmark of the whole Slavonian plain.
• The painted interior - vaults and walls covered with dense nineteenth-century biblical scenes.
• The crypt - the bishops' burial chamber beneath the sanctuary.
• The Lipizzaner stud farm - the state stud in the town, breeding the white horses since the eighteenth century.

When to go

Spring and autumn are comfortable; the plain is hot and still in high summer. The cathedral is open daily outside service times and takes about half an hour. Stud farm visits usually need arranging in advance and work best in the morning. Đakovo's embroidery and folklore festival in early July fills the town for a weekend.

Honest expectations

Đakovo is a quiet provincial town with little else for visitors and no real reason to stay overnight. The interior painting is dense and dark, and after the exterior it disappoints anyone hoping for something lighter. Buses from Osijek exist but are infrequent, so a car helps. There is no admission charge and correspondingly few facilities.

Nearby

Osijek and the Tvrđa quarter are forty minutes north, with wine hills in the country around the town.