Vukovar Things to Do

The interior part of the church looks very depressing, all what one could feel is deep sadness and infidelity that this could be done by the humans. In the history of the world, during many wars, the churches used to be a shelter and salvation for the civilians, oftenly even the hospitals. In the 1991 war Christian churches were the favour targets.

Partly reconstructed inner part of the church which was completely demolished. There is an exibition in the church which shows the look of it before 1991, in 1991, what was found in 1997 and the present roconstructions.
When the sacral objects becoming military targets then those who gave such an orders couldn't be considered as normal human beings.

On this photo you can see the interiors of the church and the monastery before the demolishing in 1991. Vukovar used to be very rich diocese and the locals usually like to show it by the look of their churches. The interiors of the Church of St. Filip and Jakov was richly adorned, as it could be seen from the photo.

The bell tower was completely demolished during the seage of the town, being one of the most favour targets for the Serbian artillery. When I saw this bells in the monastery yard it remainds me on Hemingway's book....., sad example of human stupidity never ending.

The front side of the church, dedicated to saints Philipe and Jacob is reconstructed aswell as a part of the monastery walls. The idea is to reconstruct the whole complex as it was before the demolishing in 1991. The interiors is still in the ruins a it takes alot of works to bring it in the previous conditions.

Since the 1948 Eltz castle was the home of Museum of Vukovar. The museum had four very important collections: Vukovar collection, Arts Gallery, Lavoslav Ruzicka collection and Recent History collection.

Probably because Eltz castle was a symbol of Central European culture whose part Croatia was, it was one of the main targets for Serbian army during the war.

Together with the destruction of the castle, museum collections were destructed as well. Paintings and most important exhibits were hidden in security boxes in the basement of the castle and weren't damaged by hundreds of shells that hit the castle in 1991. After the occupation by the Serbian forces those collections were stolen and taken to Serbia.

Starting literally from the scratch, it is almost unbelievable to see the strenght museum personnel is showing since 1998 when they returned to destructed castle. Numerous exhibitions were organized since then - approximately 200 different exhibitions and programs per year. A lot of efforts is made to form a new collection again, as well as to bring the stolen properties from museums in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

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If you have ever watched any video about the Vukovar, you surely saw this building. The water tower of Vukovar is truly a symbol of destruction, of terrible times this city went through. It is not in function anymore, but stands as the reminder of the past times....

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Hospital was heavily bombed during the war, and some parts of it are preserved in that state to witness the horrors of war.

Also, there are dolls in the basement that represent the sick and wounded, the babies born during the occupation of the city.