October 22, 2019 – Vinkovci, known as the oldest town in Europe, is also the birthplace of two Roman emperors. Now, the city is looking to use its Roman heritage to improve its cultural offer.
A new tourist route displaying Roman heritage is being established with the EU, i.e., the Council of Europe.
HRTurizam reports that the creation of this Roman heritage route began at the initiative of the Council of Europe through the Routes4U project. The project aims to stimulate the development of transnational cultural routes, preserving the heritage in four European macro-regions, namely the Adriatic-Ionian, Baltic, Alpine, and Danube regions.
After several months of cooperation and many years of communication on Roman heritage, the Vinkovci Tourist Board was invited to attend a meeting with the EU and the Council of Europe on establishing a new route.
At the meeting, which brought together interested countries and specific partners from the Adriatic Ionian and Danube regions, including the Vinkovci Tourist Board, the group discussed forming the “Roman Heritage Route”, “Iron Age Route” and the “European Route of Saints Cyril and Methodius”.
Following the previously expressed interest in partnership on the Roman heritage route, the representative of the Vinkovci Tourist Board, director Martina Matković, presented her efforts to educate, promote and create content on the subject of the Roman Empire, which in recent years has been realized by the Vinkovci Tourist Board in cooperation with the City Museum of Vinkovci.
“This is the beginning of a truly new direction in the development of the cultural offer of the city of Vinkovci, which we will put into the function of tourism through various projects that we hope to realize,” said Matković.
The Roman route includes Italy, Slavonia, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Albania, with a total of 40 localities.
After the feasibility study, the partners expressed their interest in participating in this route and following the steps for certifying the route, which is a prerequisite for further development of the projects along the route, preserving the heritage and its presentation as well as tourist valorization.
As the oldest city in Europe, whose territory has been continuously inhabited for more than 8300 years, Vinkovci has kept many secrets underground – and since 1982, the entire area of Vinkovci has been declared a protected archeological zone. Otherwise, it is less known that it was precisely in Vinkovci (Colonia Aurelia Cibalae, the Roman name of Vinkovci) that two Roman emperors, Valens and Valentinian, were born.
Colonia Aurelia Cibalae was the third-largest city in the province of Pannonia Sekunda, extending into present-day Slavonia, Srijem, and Baranja, after the capital of Sirmium (S. Mitrovica) and Mursa (Osijek). The city was founded at the beginning of the first century and slowly developed into a commercial and craft center. During the Hadrian period (117-1988) it was granted the status of a municipality (Municipium Aelium Cibalae), and from the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 3rd century, the city was raised to the rank of a colony.
The basis of economic development was agriculture and the ceramics industry, as is evidenced by over 80 ceramic furnaces found to date. The city experienced a peak of growth through the 4th century when between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants lived in the town and the surrounding area, and the city spread over an area of about 550,000 m2. The most important people born in Cibalae are brothers Valentinian (364-375) and Valens (364-378), the only Roman emperors born in present-day Croatia.
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