Popovac

Popovac is a Baranja municipal centre on the left bank of the Karašica, 5 km northeast of Beli Manastir, between fertile lowlands, Bansko brdo and the Hungarian border. The village had 738 residents in 2021, and its past remains visible in two church traditions and a landscape once extensively planted with vines. The Catholic parish church of St Joseph dates from 1778, while Popovac also has an Orthodox Church of the Presentation of the Theotokos. On the slope of Bansko brdo, the Marian shrine known as Marija Lurd centres on a Lourdes-style grotto created in 1923 and a Way of the Cross installed in 1926. The Karašica gives Popovac a strong fishing identity, reflected in a September fish-stew contest distinguished by its all-female field of cooks. Nearby Beli Manastir supplies urban services, yet Popovac retains the pace of a rural Baranja settlement. Its most revealing route links St Joseph’s Church, the hillside shrine, the Karašica and views towards the northern side of Bansko brdo.

Popovac stands at 90 metres above sea level beside the Karašica, where the Baranja plain begins to rise towards Bansko brdo. A survey from 1785 recorded that hilly ground formed one fifth of its territory and vineyards occupied almost another fifth. Today the municipality also encompasses Branjina and Kneževo, and the northern slopes of Bansko brdo offer views towards Hungarian Baranja in clear weather. The Catholic Church of St Joseph, built in 1778, recalls the settlement’s period within the Belje estate, while the Orthodox Church of the Presentation of the Theotokos preserves another strand of its religious heritage. The Karašica and Popovac’s fishing tradition distinguish the village from the better-known wine settlements of southern Baranja.