Virovitica

The Pejacevic manor at Virovitica was built between 1800 and 1804 in a restrained classicist style, a two-storey block with a columned portico standing in a landscaped park at the edge of the town centre - built on the site of an earlier fortress whose moat traces are still visible in the ground. It fell into poor condition through the twentieth century and was restored in stages, reopening as the town museum with the park brought back at the same time. Virovitica sits in the Podravina between the Drava and the Bilogora hills, close to the Hungarian border and well off the routes most visitors to Croatia take.

History

Virovitica is first mentioned in 1234, as magna villa Wereuche. The Ottomans held it from 1552 to 1684, first as a fortress town in the Sanjak of Pojega and from 1601 in the Sanjak of Rahoviçe, until the Habsburgs took it in 1684. In the late 19th and early 20th century it was a district capital of Virovitica County in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (Wikipedia, Virovitica).

Highlights

• A classicist manor of 1800 to 1804 - portico and park.
• An earlier fortress beneath - moat traces in the ground.
• Restored in stages - after long twentieth century decline.
• The town museum inside - with the park reinstated.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

What to expect

The museum is a local collection with limited English. Virovitica has few visitor services and is a long way from the main routes. The park is pleasant but modest. This is a stop, not a destination.

Nearby

Papuk geopark is south; the Drava and Hungary are north.