Osijek churches

Although the biggest church, conse- crated to SS Peter and Paul, is only a parish church, it is called the cathedral. This church in the Upper Town was built at the end of the 19th century by Vienna builders Joseph Schmalz- hofer and Eduard Hauser, and was designed by the German architect Franz Langenberg. As the main designer died suddenly in 1895, a new architect, Richard Jordan from Vienna, was engaged. The bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer, born in Osijek, especially supported the construction of this representative church. The church is built in neo-Gothic style, and has a 90-metre tall tower, a nave and two side aisles.

The sculptures are the work of Ivan Novotny, and the high altar, the altars of St Mary and St Theresa, the pulpit and other stone work was done by Eduard Hauser of Vienna. Some forty stained glass windows were also made in Vienna, while the paintings on the walls were done by the painter Mirko Rački several years after the church was finished. There are other Roman catholic churches in the Upper Town, one of them being the Capuchin church of St James with a monastery. The main plastic element of the church is a pretty shingle-covered wooden tower. The church was built in 1723, and the monastery was built some fifteen years before that. The church contains valuable Baroque artifacts, and there is a series of Baroque paintings with scenes from the life of St Francis in the vestry.

As Tvrđa was the centre of Osijek life in the past, it was also the focus of spiritual life. The parish church of St Michael, with two towers, was built by the Jesuits after the expulsion of the Turks on the site of Kasim-pasha's mosque. The church contains fine Baroque pieces, and the altarpiece by A. Roemer is of special interest. The Franciscans also built a monastery and the church of the Holy Cross.  The Baroque contents of the church is even richer here, including the 15th century Baroque statue of Mary of Judas. 18th century provided several churches in the Lower Town, like St Mary's parish church (1733-44), St Roch's chapel (1742-1744), and the Orthodox parish church of Mary's Assumption (1743-1756), of which only a small part has remained. The small and pretty Evangelical church was built in the Upper Town in 1823, and its interior is decorated in the folk style.