Bilje, Croatia

Bilje (Hungarian: Bellye) is a municipality in the Baranja region of Osijek-Baranja County, in north-eastern Croatia. It is 5 km northeast of Osijek, on the edge of the Kopački Rit nature park. Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736) constructed a hunting lodge here, Bilje Castle, which later became property of the Teschen branch of the Habsburg family.

Bilje Bellye (Hungarian)[1]
Municipality
Bilje Municipality Općina Bilje
Flag Coat of arms
Bilje Show map of Osijek-Baranja County Bilje Show map of Croatia Bilje Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 45°36′25″N 18°44′38″E
Country	Croatia
Region	Baranya (Podunavlje)
County	Osijek-Baranja
Government
• Mayor of Municipality	Željko Cickaj
Area [2]
• Municipality	259.5 km2 (100.2 sq mi)
• Urban	17.3 km2 (6.7 sq mi)
Elevation	87 m (285 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Municipality	4,772
• Density	18/km2 (48/sq mi)
• Urban	3,163
• Urban density	180/km2 (470/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (Central European Time)
Website	bilje.hr

Map of Bilje municipality

Name

Its name derived from the Slavic word "bilje" ("herb" in English). In German the village is known as Belje, in Hungarian as Bellye,^[4] and in Serbian Cyrillic as Биље. The area occupied by the municipality of Bilje is 260.15 km². ^[5]

Geography

The municipality of Bilje include following settlements and population (2011 census):^[6]

• Bilje - 3,613
• Kopačevo - 559
• Kozjak - 69
• Lug - 764
• Podunavlje - 1
• Tikveš - 10
• Vardarac - 630
• Zlatna Greda - 5

Climate

Since records began in 1981, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station was 40.1 °C (104.2 °F), on 24 August 2012.^[7]

Demographics

At the 2011 census, there were 5,642 inhabitants in the municipality,^[6] including:^[8]

• 62.87% Croats
• 29.62% Hungarians
• 3.83% Serbs
• 1.05% Germans
• 0.71% Romani

Politics

Minority councils

Although though the Government of the Republic of Croatia does not guarantee official Croatian-Hungarian bilinguialism here, the statute of Bilje itself does.^[9]: 3 Preserving traditional Hungarian place names and assigning street names to Hungarian historical figures is legally mandated and carried out.^[9]: 135

Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs.^[10] At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections Hungarians and Serbs of Croatia each fulfilled legal requirements to elect 10 members municipal minority councils of the Bilje Municipality.^[11]

History

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Bilje was part of the Baranya County of the Kingdom of Hungary.