Aljmaš

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Aljmaš
Aljmaš (Croatia)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 45 ° 31 ′ 40 ″  N , 18 ° 56 ′ 58 ″  E
Basic data
State : Croatian flag Croatia
County : Flag of Osijek-Baranja County Osijek-Baranja
Municipality : Erdut
Height : 93  m. i. J.
Residents : 645 (2001)
Telephone code : (+385) 031
Postal code : 31 205
License plate : OS
Structure and administration
Community type : settlement

Aljmaš ( German Apfeldorf , ung. Almás ) is a village and part of the Slavonian municipality of Erdut in eastern Croatia . Aljmaš is a Marian pilgrimage site .

geography

View of the place

The small village is located 20 kilometers east of the town of Osijek in the southern high banks of the Danube River , just downstream of the confluence of the Drava ( Drava ) in the Danube about 93 meters above the Adriatic . Aljmaš has a cadastral area of ​​15 km² and a population of 645 (2001). In 1953 Aljmaš had around 1300 inhabitants.

Nowadays, Aljmaš is not only attractive for pilgrims, but also for numerous tourists and fishermen who mostly want to spend their weekends in the small village in the middle of nature.

history

Old picture (1852)

Aljmaš is an old small village in which Croats settled at the beginning of the 7th century. In the Middle Ages the village was a trading and handicraft settlement, inhabited by Hungarians and Croats . Some German-speaking Danube Swabians lived here until 1945, but they had to leave their homes due to communist persecution.

The village was first mentioned in writing in 1332 .

Since 1807 Aljmaš has had a parish with its own diocesan priest of the diocese of Syrmia , who looked after both the parish and the pilgrimage church. The fourth church building has existed in the village since 2003; the previous ones are from the years 1687, 1708 and 1847 (consecrated in 1852). The first church, located in the same place as the following, was built in 1687 and consisted of a framework of branches, mud and reeds.

Place of pilgrimage

New church in Aljmaš (built 2003)

Aljmaš is a well-known Marian pilgrimage site. Believers have been making a pilgrimage to Aljmaš since 1704 to the “Mother of God of Refuge” ( Croatian Gospa od Utočišta ) or “Mother of God of Aljmaš” ( Gospa Aljmaška ). At that time, a statue of the Virgin Mary came to Aljmaš due to disputes between Calvinists and the Osijek- based Jesuit order . Because the inhabitants of the place gave the statue a place of refuge, it got its nickname. From 1708 to 1718 a church in which the statue of the Virgin Mary was kept was built in Aljmaš.

In a fire in 1846, the church and the statue of the Virgin Mary were destroyed. In the following year the construction of a new church of 370 m² began and a sanctuary was erected, in which a picture of the statue of the Virgin Mary could now be seen. This image of the statue of Mary is the only thing that could be saved from the fire. Both were consecrated by the Bishop of Đakovo, Josip Juraj Strossmayer , who donated a new statue of the Virgin Mary in 1865.

The interior of the church was painted in 1928 by Vjekoslav Pifat, an artist from Vukovar . There were two graves in the church, namely those of Antun Adamovich and his son Rudolf from Čepin , the architects of the church. Josip Obletter from Tyrol was the architect of the main altar, who also designed another altar in the church. The organ was built by Lorenzo Fabing from Osijek.

In 1991 the church was completely destroyed by Serbian troops in five attacks during the war in Croatia .

  • September 19, 1991: The church is shelled with cannons and tanks
  • September 22, 1991: the church bell tower is damaged
  • July 12, 1991: the ceiling of the church is destroyed, as are the altars, statues and the rest of the furnishings
  • April 29, 1992: the bell tower is completely destroyed
  • August 14, 1993: the church is completely destroyed, leaving only rubble and a corner

The statue of the Virgin Mary remained undamaged in the destroyed church and was kept in Osijek until 1997. She has been back in Aljmaš since August 1, 1998, exactly seven years after the residents were expelled; Since then , pilgrimages have taken place every year, especially on the Assumption of Mary . Up to 100,000 pilgrims and tourists come to Aljmaš every year.

In 2001, the construction of the fourth church in Aljmaš began on the same site and was completed in 2003. In 2007 the rest of the work on the church, e.g. B. the green area, numerous confessionals, a souvenir shop and some rooms for the pilgrims , completed.

Since then, one of the most beautiful and, above all, most modern churches in Croatia has stood in Aljmaš, which has the shape of a swan and fits into the background of the Danube.

Calvary

Calvary

In Aljmaš, the Calvary with the Way of the Cross is one of the landmarks of the pilgrimage site. In 1952 the Yugoslav People's Army built a bunker under the hill , to which the Calvary also fell victim the following year, in order to keep the field of fire and view clear. 50 years later work began on the reconstruction of the Way of the Cross , which was completed on August 1, 2006. The Way of the Cross has a length of 480 m, on which 14 large wooden crosses were placed.

References

Web links