Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić Square

Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić Square is a public square in Županja, a town on the left bank of the Sava river in the far east of Croatia, close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is named after one of the most loved Croatian writers, and for visitors it is best treated as a pleasant stop in the centre of a town that most people pass through, rather than a monument with a long list of sights. Information about the square itself is limited, so the most honest description is of the setting and the woman it honours.

Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić was born in 1874 and lived much of her life in Slavonski Brod, a town further up the Sava. She is often called the Croatian Andersen. Her best-known book, Tales of Long Ago, published in 1916, retells and reinvents Slavic myth and folklore in a series of fairy tales, drawing on the stories of old gods and spirits and giving them a moral and poetic depth that still appeals to readers of all ages. She was among the first women to be admitted to the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. Naming a square after her ties a small Slavonian town to the national literary tradition, and children in Croatia usually know her stories from school.

Županja has its own character. It stands on the Sava, a river that has repeatedly flooded its banks, and the town's identity is tied to the river, its promenade and the Šokac culture of the eastern Slavonian plain, with its distinctive costumes, songs and food. The town is also remembered as the birthplace of Stjepan Gruber, the eighteenth-century Jesuit engineer who designed the canal in the region that bears his name, and the homeland museum in town is named after him. The Church of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, the castle called Kraljevac and the riverside walkway are listed in this guide as other places to see, and the square makes a convenient place to begin.

You can expect a typical eastern Croatian town square, with open space, some trees and benches, shops and cafes around the edges and local life going on at its own pace. It is public, free and open at any time. Mornings are the busiest, when residents meet for coffee and shopping.

Plan on a short stop of fifteen minutes to half an hour, and combine it with the Sava promenade and the museum. The square suits travellers exploring Slavonia and Posavina by car or bicycle, readers who want to connect a place with the author of Tales of Long Ago, and anyone looking for a taste of everyday small-town Croatia.