Požega

Požega lies in a fertile Slavonian basin, surrounded by hills and watered by streams. In the Middle Ages a town grew below its fortress, becoming a market and the seat of Požega County. The estate belonged for generations to the queens of Hungary, before passing into the hands of powerful noble families.

Ottoman forces took Požega in 1537 and made it the centre of a sanjak. Mosques, a caravanserai and a bathhouse were built, and the town became an important administrative and commercial centre of Ottoman Slavonia. Its many craftsmen and shops served the surrounding countryside. Habsburg troops and local insurgents captured Požega in 1687; the following year a force led by the friar Luka Ibrišimović repelled an Ottoman attempt to return. Jesuits opened a school in 1699, later expanded into the Academia Posegana, where philosophy and theology were taught.