Continuity of Urban and Cultural Identity
Archaeology has detected the prehistoric existence of settlements in the locality of Vinkovci, by the Bosut River, in the interflue of three great rivers : Sava, Drava, and the Danube. Also determined were the city's status over the two millenniums of the Christian civilization and its mediaeval, Pannonian and Western Balkanic substrata, with their respective particular features, which - interwoven - make up its recognizable identity.
In the prehistory we can find Neolithic remains of the Starčevac and Sopot cultures, and the eneolithic remains of the Baden and Vučedol cultures; early and middle Bronze Age is represented by the Vinkovci and Vatin cultures, and, of the Iron Age, best represented are objects from the Celtic, i.e. Latenic cultures.
It was on that Celtic substratum that an important Roman settlement had developed on the cross-road of land routes and waterways; at first a municipality, later Colonia Aurelia Cibalae, the city of the military and proprietors elite, transport, trade, and handicraft, equipped with an aqueduct and having an elevated standard of living. The inhabitants of Vinkovci are proud to say that their town was the birth-place of two Roman emperors: Valens and Valentinian.
The mediaeval settlement was called Sveti Ilija (St. Elias) by the patron of the church erected in the part of the town called Meraja around 1100 a.d. In the 14 th century a Gothic church was built next to the old one. An important market place was there, mentioned in Turkish manuscripts (and in the 1967 cenus) under the name of Vinkovci, the autochthonous, popular name, which proves that the ruins of the ancient Cibalae were re-settled by Croats.
During the time of Vojna krajina (the Military Border, 1707-1881) Vinkovci was on the rise. The town became the seat of the Brod Regiment (Brodska pukovnija) and acquired its modern architectural appearance with late baroque two-story buildings in the center and the Sv. Ivan Nepomuk catholic parish church, which is today devoted to the first Christian martyrs, Bishop Eusebius and the gospel lecturer's teacher Polion.
This was also the beginning of education in Vinkovci; primary in 1762, and secondary in the 1762. Today, Vinkovci is the city of numerous kindergartens, elementary and high school, cultural institutions (Municipal Gallery, Museum and Library), seat of the Center for Scientific Work with the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, the first academy in the Balkans.
Today, according to the recent administrative division of the Republic of Croatia it is the Vukovar-Srijem District (Županija vukovarsko-srijemska).
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