Gundinci

Gundinci is a lowland Slavonian village and the sole settlement of its municipality at the eastern edge of Brod-Posavina County. It stands in the Posavina plain at roughly 86 metres above sea level, 46 kilometres east of Slavonski Brod, on the road connecting Velika Kopanica and Babina Greda. Municipal records trace the first written evidence of the settlement to around 1500; later documents use the form Kundinczi in 1698 and the modern name in 1760. During the era of the Military Frontier, Gundinci and Babina Greda formed the Sixth Company, initially headquartered in Gundinci itself. The village landmark is the parish church of St Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, built in 1850 in a Neo-Baroque style and renovated in 1996–97. The municipality celebrates its day on 21 September, St Matthew’s feast, keeping the patron saint closely tied to the local calendar. Fields, drainage channels and exceptionally low Posavina terrain define the surroundings, while a 1941 map of the Gundinci district records old farmsteads, roads and the historic canal network. Gundinci suits a short heritage stop for travellers exploring the villages of eastern Brod Posavina.

Gundinci occupies an unusual border position: the municipality adjoins Velika Kopanica to the west and Sikirevci to the south, while its northern and eastern boundaries also mark the borders with Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties. The entire area is exceptionally flat, standing at roughly 85–90 metres above sea level and ranking among the lowest parts of Brod-Posavina County. Gundinci’s identity was strongly shaped by the Military Frontier, when it initially served as the headquarters of the Sixth Company shared with Babina Greda. The municipal history also records an 18th-century chapel dedicated to St Matthew, the predecessor of the present church. Because Gundinci is the municipality’s only settlement, its administrative and community centre remains part of the same compact village core.