Kotoriba

Kotoriba occupies Međimurje’s far south-eastern corner, beside the Mura and the Hungarian border, roughly 40 kilometres from Čakovec. Its identity is inseparable from the railway: the line through Kotoriba opened in 1860 as the first railway on the territory of present-day Croatia, turning the village into an important link between Nagykanizsa, Čakovec and Pragersko. The station, the railway bridge across the Mura and a locomotive sculpture made from industrial willow rods preserve that story in the modern settlement. Willow is more than decoration here, as Kotoriba developed a notable basket-making tradition; the local Willow and Fish Days pair the craft with food prepared from Mura fish. The river provides the other focus, with side channels and floodplain woodland extending towards the protected Veliki Pažut area. In the centre stands the large Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, developed from an earlier chapel. Kotoriba was also the birthplace of writer, sailor and politician Joža Horvat, giving travel, water and distant horizons an unusually strong local resonance.

Kotoriba is a flatland border settlement on the Mura and the only village within its municipality. Its position at the eastern edge of Međimurje shaped both its railway heritage and its crafts: the station and the 1860 railway connected this corner with Hungary and Slovenia, while weaving practical objects from willow became a distinctive local trade. That dual identity appears in the village centre as a locomotive sculpture formed from industrial willow rods. Along the outskirts, the Mura reveals another side of Kotoriba through embankments, side channels and floodplain scenery leading towards Veliki Pažut. The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the memory of Kotoriba-born writer and sailor Joža Horvat complete a local story built around travel and the river.