Lonja

Lonja is a Sava-side village inside Lonjsko Polje Nature Park, strung along the road between Sisak and Jasenovac. It stands near the former meeting point of the Stara Lonja and the Sava, and its character still comes from oak-built houses, farm buildings, the embankment and long views across the river corridor. Here the protected floodplain is not separated from everyday settlement: houses, road, riverbank and periodically flooded ground form one inhabited landscape. Waters spread seasonally through Lonjsko, Mokro and Poganovo poljes, sustaining wet grasslands, bird habitats and traditional grazing by Posavina horses, Podolian cattle and Turopolje pigs. From Lonja, visitors can travel towards Čigoč, recognised as Europe’s first stork village, or downstream to Krapje, known for its timber architecture and nature-park visitor centre. The village rewards a slow journey by bicycle or car, with changing water levels and seasonal flooding continually reshaping how the wooden Posavina landscape is seen.

Lonja extends beside the Sava near the former mouth of the Stara Lonja, with the Sisak–Jasenovac road following the river through the settlement. Surviving farmsteads include two-storey timber houses with porches, built in the oak tradition associated with central Posavina. West of the village, the road towards Suvoj passes the cemetery and its modest chapel, while periodically flooded riverside ground opens on the Sava side. Lonja is not a detached museum village: its timber heritage remains woven into an inhabited community inside the nature park. The close arrangement of houses, road, embankment and river demonstrates how settlements along this stretch of the Sava adapted to flooding and to the narrow strips of reliably usable land.