Antunovac

Antunovac is a lowland settlement immediately south of Osijek and the administrative centre of a municipality shared with Ivanovac. State road D518, running between Osijek and Jarmina, and direct GPP buses to Gajev trg make it readily accessible from the regional capital. Its most rewarding outing follows the municipality’s 10.37-kilometre cycle network, linking Antunovac and Ivanovac with the medieval Kolođvar fortress before joining Osijek’s paths. Built in marshland during the 13th century, Kolođvar was protected by a deep ditch and once approached over a drawbridge. In Ivanovac, the Žnidarec Cultural, Information and Tourism Centre occupies the former home of naïve sculptor Vjekoslav Žnidarec and has displayed his work since opening in 2018. The route between Kolođvar and Antunovac also passes a cyclists’ rest area, a Lipizzaner stud, Antunovac’s central lake and an educational trail devoted to the saker falcon. The result is an unusual combination of easy access from Osijek, medieval heritage, naïve art and cycling across the Slavonian plain.

Antunovac is the seat of its municipality in eastern Croatia, 11 kilometres south of Osijek, on state road D-518 towards Jarmina. The municipality comprises only Antunovac and Ivanovac; the 2021 census recorded 3,411 residents, with 2,036 living in Antunovac itself. The settlement first appears in records in 1389 under the Hungarian name Antafalu and was known as Tenjski Antunovac from 1900 to 1992. Its present name is associated with Antun Adamović, owner of the former estate, where the Chapel of St Anthony was built in 1880. After the Second World War, residents from Hrvatsko zagorje and Dalmatia settled here, and the municipality of Antunovac, including Ivanovac, was founded in 1993.