Elementary school Vladimira NazoraNova Bukovica

Republic of Croatia

Research work – cultural and historical heritage of

Nova Bukovica

Position of Nova Bukovica

District Nova Bukovica is positioned in the south-eastern part of Virovitica-Podravina county. It is a rather small county and it has 8 villages under its juristiction - Bjelkovac, Brezik, Bukovački Antunovac, Dobrović, Donja Bukovica, Gornje Viljevo, Miljevci, Nova Bukovica.

History of Nova Bukovica By the list from 1334 ,there are 13 settlements in this area

and Nova Bukovica is also mentioned as one of them. Nova Bukovica is again mentioned on the map of

Virovitica county from 15th century. The population of Nove Bukovice can be observed from

the middle of 18th century when 35 families came to this area and founded a settlement called Nova Bukovica.

Nova Bukovica as a district was founded on December 29th 1992 and since then it contains the other 7 villages already mentioned.

In 1994 District council decided that the municipality may have its own coat of arms, flag and a seal. The coat of arms consists of silver rearing unicorn in a red field, a flag is blue with yellow bordered coat of arms in the middle.

Parish of Nova Bukovica- In the oldest list of parishes of the Diocese of Zagreb in 1334

there is a mention of the parish "Sanctorum Cosme et Damiani de Bocuha" which was located in what is now Nova Bukovica.

- Bukovica in the Middle Ages had a fortress city. Between the fort and the moat there was the old church that was 24 meters long and had 96 centimeters wide walls, as shown from the excavations in 1904.

- Bukovica was occupied by the Turks probably in 1542 same as the surrounding villages. The natives, that were Catholics were mostly killed, taken as slaves, and the rest fled into northern regions.

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During the reign of the Turks, the church in Bukovica was mentioned 1660 in the description of an visitation. The church was then demolished and the residents and the priests scattered. According to historical sources at that time in Bukovica there was forty households. After liberation from Ottoman rule a lot of Croatian population moved to Bukovica and the work of the church community was renewed.

- From 1778 to 1786 a new church was built, where worship was done until 1904.

Parish of Nova BukovicaParish Nova Bukovica was established in 1812.

The parish church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven Assumption (August 15th) and was built in 1904. The church is built in the Gothic style.

A major contribution to the parish was given by pastor Alojzije Stanek who served in the parish from 1958 to 1999. He built a subsidiary chapels in places Mikleuš, Četekovac, Kozice and Borik.

Besides the chapel pastor Stanek built the first Catechism hall in Croatia after the Second World War.

SjenjakArchaeological site "Sjenjak" is located at

the beginning of the village Nova Bukovica.

This arheological rich site was discovered in 1976 and the research and excavations started in 1997.

This site entered in the register of Croatian Cultural Monuments.

It was discovered that the inhabitants lived in two villages. One settlement from the late Bronze Age, from 3000 years ago. The second is a village dating from 2100 years ago.

The most numerous group of findings from both the village includes fragments of pottery vessels, metal tools and weapons (bronze spear, iron awl, fibula, buckles and pins that were used for anchoring clothing, etc.) .

Most items found at this site is kept in the Town Museum in Slatina.

School1857 - the first mention of school in this

area

1868 - the official opening of the first school

1968 - the school has been named after the writer Vladimir

Nazor

The memorial of the school, dating from 1876

Women's Association “Bukovica in the Heart”

“Bukovica in the Heart” is the women’s association from Nova Bukovica. There are 43 members of the association.

Before Christmas, they decorate a big Christmas tree at village centre. They also organize the costume party, decorate the church, made embroideries, embellishment which they display at the museum...

A few years ago, the association has organized the filming of a documentary film in which the life of our ancestors was described. This film was sent to Australia.

Museum – Nova Bukovica

The IT club Members of the IT team learn about the new technology. Together with their leader, devise icons to protect computes. There are 12 computers there and young people who are 18-30 years old can be members of the club.

The Firehouse

The patron saint of firefighters is Florian and his anniversary is on May 4th. Fire Board has various meetings. There are plenty of members who include children, adults and teens. Firefighters go to many competitions. Our fire station was built in 1928 and the fire community was founded in 1904.

Cultural Artistic Society “Lipa”

Cultural Artistic Society “Lipa “ is an association in which people dance, act and sing and thereby

display the old customs. Participation in the association makes people happy.

SLOVAKS IN MILJEVCI

Slovaks began to migrate to Miljevci in 1835. They came from overpopulated parts of northern Slovakia, more precisely, from Stara i Nova Bistrica. The reason of their arrival was a search for the land that would feed them. They settled the part of Miljevci that leads towards Mikleuš. What made them different from Croatian and Serbian population was diligence, dedication to work, simplicity and a large number of children in families. It was recorded that there were 390 Slovaks in Miljevci. Original Slovak surnames, which are mentioned in old books, are: Cerjak, Podmanicki, Kljescik, Sobol, Krupa, Mrva, Kraljik, Kolembus, etc.

Today, their descendants speak in Slovakian language, which is characterized by the Croatian and Serbian influences, but they declare themselves as Croatians. They feel like Slovaks, they keep and cherish their tradition, culture and language because their origin is Slovakian.

In 2004., Matica Slovaka Miljevci was established , the president was Đuro Sobol and their first performance was in the same year at the Christmas concert in Osijek. Matica consists of 3 singing-dancing groups, older, middle and younger.

In September 2008., Matica slovačka Miljevci organized the first Days of corn which are regularly held every year and it is visited by guests from Slovakia.

In 2009, Croatian – Slovakian home was built in which different cultural events and all kind of meetings are held.

Writers from Nova Bukovica

Stjepan Tomaš was born on January 21st 1947 in Nova Bukovica and is currently living in Osijek. He is well known croatian author and his stories are very popular among children.

Pavle BistrovićBorn on June 9th, 1929 in Nova Bukovica.

He became a member of the Croatian Writers Association after publishing a collection of poems called The vibrations of youth in 1954.

He attended elementary school in Nova Bukovici. He started to write poems since early age. He used to write down lyrics on pieces of paper while guarding livestock. Because of this his childhood friends had nicknamed him Poet.

Pavle Bistrović died in his native village in 2001, at the age of 72.

Easter 2014 This year for Easter Nova Bukovica had the biggest Easter egg in

the whole Republic of Croatia. The egg was placed on the village’s square. The egg was made by a local artist and children from our school helped him with the colouring.