Slunj

Slunj
Town
Grad Slunj Town of Slunj
Zrinski Square in Slunj
Slunj Location of Slunj in Croatia
Coordinates: 45°06′56″N 15°35′05″E
Country	Croatia
County	Karlovac County
Government
• Mayor	Mirjana Puškarić (HDZ)
Area
• Town	393.4 km2 (151.9 sq mi)
• Urban	5.1 km2 (2.0 sq mi)
Elevation	258 m (846 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Town	4,224
• Density	11/km2 (28/sq mi)
• Urban	1,576
• Urban density	310/km2 (800/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code	047
Website	slunj.hr

Franjo Tuđman Square in the town center

Slunj is a town in the mountainous part of Central Croatia, located along the important North-South route to the Adriatic Sea between Karlovac and Plitvice Lakes National Park, on the meeting of the rivers Korana and Slunjčica. Slunj has a population of 1,674, with a total of 5,076 people in the municipality (2011) and is the cultural and social center of the region of Kordun in the vicinity to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administratively, the town is part of Karlovac County. Slunj is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as part of the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.

Climate

Since records began in 1955, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station was 40.0 °C (104.0 °F), on 4 August 2017. The coldest temperature was −24.0 °C (−11.2 °F), on 16 February 1956.

History

An old fortification of the Frankopans, built during the wars against the Turks, Slovin was first mentioned in the 12th century. The old fort was property of the Frankopan (Hungarian Frangepán) family since the 15th century, joined by an old Franciscan monastery from the same period. Later, this town has been called Slunj. In the 16th century the town was ravaged by the Ottoman wars and turned into a military outpost of the Croatian Military Frontier, but by the end of the 17th century the settlement was rebuilt into the Slunj as it exists today. The castle has been developed to a fortress and served as headquarters for the commanding general of this area (see Stari grad Slunj). After the Treaty of Sistova in 1791 people increasingly began to re-settle in this area.

The town of Slunj was first mentioned in a written document by the chronicler Johann Weikhard von Valvasor who reported about the fortified town of Slunj, a bridge and a mill in 1689. The first illustration of the mills of Rastoke dates back from 1789. It was a copper engraving that has been added to a description by Belsazar Hacquet. At the end of the 19th century, Stjepan Širola wrote the following about this place: "The surroundings of Slunj are downright romantic […]. They are crowned by the magnificent waterfalls of the Slunjčica river by which even not outspoken nature lovers will be captivated. Indeed, Slunj with its romantic surroundings and the silver waterfalls of the Slunjčica represent a true nature gem astonishing even to foreigners."

During the short French governance period from 1809 until 1813, Slunj encountered an economic boom as streets, storage facilities and mills were built and as vineyards and mulberry trees were planted. At this point of time, the Croatian language has become official language of the country. The residence of the former governor general of the French Illyrian Provinces, marshal Auguste de Marmont, still exists.

Until 1918, Slunj (named SZLUIN) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Modruš-Rijeka County, after the compromise of 1867), in the Croatian Military Frontier. It was administered by the SZLUINER Grenz-Infanterie-Regiment N°IV before 1881. Slunj became a district capital in the Modruš-Rijeka County in the Kingdom.

WWII

On 12 April 1941, a group of 700 soldiers of the Royal Yugoslav Army launched an attack on Slunj from Primišlje in an attempt to penetrate further towards Bosnia, but after 6 hours the attack on Slunj failed. Wehrmacht forces entered Slunj at the behest of the Ustaša administration of Slunj in the evening, while the Luftwaffe bombed Yugoslav positions. A large number of soldiers were captured, and of those about 30 officers and 100 soldiers pledged allegiance to the NDH. Throughout that same day, a large number of Croat former Yugoslav soldiers from Bihać and Korenica had been making the same pledge. German soldiers returned to Karlovac that evening with 2 captive Yugoslav generals.

On the Gregorian Easter Sunday of 13 April 1941 at around 9:00, German tanks, trucks and motorcycles, together with Italian bicycle infantry, passed through Slunj, well-received by most of its Croat residents but resented by most of its Serb residents. This became a frequent sight for a week. The German soldiers rarely stopped, with the exception of one unit from France on whom night fell, so they spent the night. The Italian soldiers often stopped frequently in Slunj in mid-April, but gained a poor reputation because of chicken thieving and not paying innkeepers. The Invasion of Yugoslavia only lasted 2-3 days in and around Slunj.

On 22 August 1941, all of Slunj's kotar and općina level members of the HSS formally joined the Ustaša movement. This followed an 8 June 1941 meeting between NDH Minister of People's Economy Lovro Sušić and the representatives of kotar level organs of the HSS.

Initially in April 1941, the Royal Italian Army would take captured Serbs to POW camps in Italy. But on 7 May 1941, the same day as the Blagaj massacre, an Italian cavalry regiment arrived in Slunj and freed all Serbian captives there. On the 10th, Italian Carabinieri arrived in Slunj and disarmed the Croats in Slunj, Rakovica and Drežnik Grad. Twenty Italian financial servants arrived to act as financial overseers in Slunj kotar. Most of this was in the context of obtaining better territorial concessions in the upcoming delineation of their border with the NDH. This came with the Treaties of Rome on the 18th, in which the Italians obtained a stronger position within the Italian occupation zone but no annexable territory as far inland as Slunj. The Italian Army left Slunj on June 7th.

On 1 July 1941, Ante Pavelić founded the Velika župa Modruš with its seat in Ogulin, by merging Ogulin with Slunj, Vrbovsko and Delnice.

With the withdrawal of the Italians, the chances of a successful Serb rebellion increased. Shortly after the Drvar uprising, Božidar Cerovski, director of the Directorate of the Ustaša Police, arrived in Slunj, on the evening of 29 July 1941, along with an undetermined number of Ustaše from Zagreb for the removal of "undesirable elements". In the morning of the 30th, they broke up into several groups and walked through Serb inhabitted settlements with lists of such individuals, detaining them and transporting them to Oštarski Stanovi, where they were executed on the order of Cerovski.

In the summer and autumn of 1941, many of the Serbs from the environs of Cazin and Velika Kladuša fled to Slunj to convert to Catholicism, in order to avoid conversion to Islam.

SFRY

The Cazin uprising of 1950, an armed anti-state rebellion of peasants, which mostly affected the Bosnian towns Cazin and Velika Kladuša, also affected Slunj to a lesser extent. All of the cities were a part of Communist Yugoslavia at the time. Peasants revolted against the forced collectivization and collective farms by the Yugoslav government on the farmers of its country. Following a drought in 1949, the peasants of Yugoslavia were unable to meet unrealistic quotas set by their government and were punished. The revolt that followed the drought resulted in the killings and persecution of those who organized the uprising, but also many innocent civilians. It was the only peasant rebellion in the history of Cold War Europe.

Rastoke waterfall

In 1963, the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer published the novel The Waterfalls of Slunj (German: Die Wasserfälle von Slunj) which features a climactic sequence set in this locality. During the 20th century scientific research studies were carried out in the Slunj area and particularly its Rastoke district. During the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century Rastoke has been the center of social life in this region. With the development of the electric mill and massive emigration after the Second World War the economic significance of the mills in Rastoke has declined drastically.

Places of interest

Slunj is famous for its little waterfalls and the well-preserved corn mills (dating back to the 18th century) in the picturesque lower part of the town, called Rastoke (referring to the branching of the rivers). At Slunj, the Slunjčica river (also called “Slušnica“ by local people) flows over several waterfalls and cascades into the Korana river. Here is also the location of the 22 water mills of Rastoke.

Population

As of 2011, most of Slunj's population is Croatian (87.9%) followed by Serbs (10.5%) and a small number of other ethnic groups.

Town of Slunj: Population trends 1857–2021

population	19430	19412	18110	20498	20724	21035	18749	21256	17004	16518	15798	13629	11799	10096	6096	5076	4224
	1857	1869	1880	1890	1900	1910	1921	1931	1948	1953	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011	2021

Sources: Croatian Bureau of Statistics publications

Settlements

The settlements in the Town of Slunj is:

• Arapovac, population 4
• Bandino Selo, population 6
• Blagaj, population 27
• Bukovac Perjasički, population 3
• Crno Vrelo, population 7
• Cvijanović Brdo, population 2
• Cvitović, population 279
• Čamerovac, population 57
• Donja Glina, population 28
• Donja Visočka, population 9
• Donje Primišlje, population 35
• Donje Taborište, population 200
• Donji Cerovac, population 129
• Donji Furjan, population 59
• Donji Kremen, population 47
• Donji Lađevac, population 46
• Donji Nikšić, population 204
• Donji Poloj, population 11
• Donji Popovac, population 20
• Dubrave, population 21
• Glinsko Vrelo, population 43
• Gornja Glina, population 144
• Gornja Visočka, population 16
• Gornje Primišlje, population 13
• Gornje Taborište, population 227
• Gornji Cerovac, population 94
• Gornji Furjan, population 85
• Gornji Kremen, population 65
• Gornji Lađevac, population 58
• Gornji Nikšić, population 47
• Gornji Popovac, population 176
• Grobnik, population 20
• Jame, population 28
• Klanac Perjasički, population 6
• Kosa, population 15
• Kosijer Selo, population 5
• Kutanja, population 2
• Kuzma Perjasička, population 11
• Lađevačko Selište, population 11
• Lapovac, population 35
• Lumbardenik, population 141
• Mali Vuković, population 115
• Marindolsko Brdo, population 59
• Miljevac, population 10
• Mjesto Primišlje, population 49
• Novo Selo, population 68
• Pavlovac, population 35
• Podmelnica, population 199
• Polje, population 29
• Rabinja, population 0
• Rastoke, population 50
• Salopek Luke, population 17
• Sastavak, population 14
• Slunj, population 1,674
• Slunjčica, population 7
• Snos, population 8
• Sparednjak, population 3
• Stojmerić, population 3
• Šlivnjak, population 17
• Točak, population 70
• Tržić Primišljanski, population 20
• Veljun, population 112
• Veljunska Glina, population 17
• Veljunski Ponorac, population 12
• Videkić Selo, population 21
• Zapoljak, population 8
• Zečev Varoš, population 23

Sport

Football

Although Slunj is very small, it has many sport clubs. Most famous are the football club NK Slunj and MNK Drenak. There are two football fields in Slunj. One is situated in the center of Slunj and popularly called Gradsko igralište (Town field) and the other is Zubac, which is the official turf of NK Slunj.

Koranski susreti

On the last day of "Dani grada Slunja" (festivity called Days of the city of Slunj), which usually takes place at the beginning of August, games are organized on main swimming area on the river Korana. Participating teams compete in many games like swimming and snorkeling and many other.

Notable people

• Milan Neralić (famous fencer and winner of the Bronze Medal at the Olympic Summer Games in Paris in 1900

Acknowledgements

• Slunj was included in the list of the 54 best tourist villages in the world by UNWTO in 2023.

Twin towns

• Castel San Giovanni, Italy
• Grude, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Mississauga, Canada

Gallery

• 
  Park in the town center
• 
  Christmas decorations in Slunj
• 
  Houses in Rastoke
• 
  Korana Bridge
• 
  Warehouse from Napoleonic times
• 
  View of Rastoke
• 
  In front of the "Buk" department store.
• 
  Brothers Radić Street
• 
  Memorial to fallen defenders and civil victims of the Croatian War of Independence

External links

• Official website
• Slunj Tourist Board
• Cultural Tourism in Croatia. Church of the Holy Trinity in Slunj. (Croatian)