Podgorje, Virovitica

Podgorje is a hillside settlement within the City of Virovitica, rooted in a hamlet once known as Kozja Glava that had developed in the south-western part of the Virovitica wine-growing area before 1880. A Virovitica census recorded just 11 houses and 43 residents here in 1890, before the modern name gradually replaced the older one. The village landmark is the Chapel of Saint Nicholas Tavelić, opened on 24 September 1965 under a decree signed by Zagreb archbishop Franjo Šeper. Podgorje gained its branch school in 2006 and an improved railway crossing two years later. Local sporting life has a long-established address here: the village football club dates from 1973, while the Podgorje sports-recreation association remains active. Vinogradska Street and Saint Nicholas Tavelić Street trace the hilly route towards Golo Brdo and Sveti Đurađ. Since September 2026, that corridor has also carried Virovitica’s municipal buses, linking Podgorje directly with the central squares, the station area and eastern neighbourhoods. The result is a small wine-country settlement that can be explored without leaving Virovitica’s administrative area.

Although Podgorje is officially one of Virovitica’s suburban settlements, its position among vineyard slopes gives it a different character from the flatter urban districts. The former name Kozja Glava recalls a community that counted only 11 houses in 1890. The Chapel of Saint Nicholas Tavelić has served as the local religious focus since 1965, while the branch school built in 2006 represents a more recent layer of village growth. A football club founded in 1973 and Podgorje’s sports-recreation association anchor community life in organised rural sport. Annual ties with Krivi Put also preserve the story of families who moved from that coastal hinterland village to Podgorje.