Sirač

Sirač lies eight kilometres south of Daruvar, where the Bijela and Pakra rivers emerge from the Papuk and Ravna gora massifs. Recorded as Zirch in 1242, the settlement is dominated by the remains of its old fortress on the right bank of the Bijela. The stone stronghold occupies a gorge in central Sirač; its partly preserved northern wall measures four metres high, two metres thick and fourteen metres long. The 1908 Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Sirač Defenders’ Park provide two further focal points. Elsewhere in the municipality are the ruins of Željnjak, the archaeological remains of the Benedictine monastery of St Margaret and the Pakra monastery complex. Quarrying and stoneworking have long shaped Sirač’s economy, while rivers and wooded foothills distinguish it from nearby spa-oriented Daruvar. A short visit works best as a compact historical walk through the centre, followed by the Bijela and the heritage sites towards Papuk.

Sirač developed beside the Bijela where the river leaves the Papuk massif, only eight kilometres south of Daruvar. The place appears as Zirch in a record from 1242, while the modern name Sirač is documented from 1390. Quarries, lime production and dolomite processing shaped its more recent economy, giving the settlement another link with stone beyond the fortress above the river. In the centre, its historical layers can be read between the Old Town remains, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Defenders’ Park unveiled in 2005.