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Požega and Slavonija County

The Pozega and Slavonia county is one of the oldest counties and it is mentioned as early as the 13th century. The county's central region, the Pozega Vallis aureu (the Golden Valley) as it was called by the Romans, is surrounded by Psunj, Papuk, Krndija, Dilj and the Pozega range. The town of Pozega is the county's centre today. It was built on the Roman settlement of Incerum on the right bank of the Orljava. In medieval times it became the county centre and during Turkish occupation the centre of the sanjak which covered the whole of eastern Slavonia (1533-1687). After Turkish rule, the Jesuits founded a school in 1699, which included the Academica Posegana and the study of philosophy and theology (in 1999 Pozega celebrated three centuries of its existence). The town has had a reading-room since 1845 and in 1863 the first Croatian novel "The Pupil from Pozega" by M. Kraljevic was published.

The town of Pozega and the county were the first to introduce the Croatian language into public life in 1847. It also gave Croatia leading figures in culture and technology: the writer M. Kraljevic, the painter M. Kraljevic, D. Cesaric, J. E. Tomic, M. Peic, D. J. Buzimski, to mention but a few. The Kutjevo vineyards are the oldest in Croatia and were mentioned as early as the 13th century. Even today, the good quality wines of Kutjevo are kept in old cellars where the largest wooden casket in the world is still in use. It can take 56,000 litres.

The county offers good conditions for the development of tourism. In Velika pools have been built on the site of thermal springs and only five kilometres away is the Jezerce ski slope, a winter resort for Slavonian skiers. Alongside this Slavonia offers the tourist hunting, gastronomic specialities and interesting folklore - the Golden String of Slavonia, The One-minute Film Festival, the International Horse Tournament in Kutjevo, the Kuleniade.

Pakrac and Lipik suffered great damages during Serb aggression, but are being restored.