The Church of St Peter and St Paul , the co-cathedral

Co-cathedral

A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or cathedra, with another cathedral. Instances of this occurred in England before the Protestant Reformation in the dioceses of Bath and Wells, and of Coventry and Lichfield, hence the names of these dioceses...

 of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek, is a neo-Gothic sacral structure located in Osijek

Osijek

Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. The multi-tiered 90-metre spire is one of the city's landmarks. The church was built in 1898 on the initiative of Đakovo-based Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer

Josip Juraj Strossmayer

Josip Juraj Strossmayer was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic bishop and benefactor.-Early life and rise as a cleric:...

.

The church is entered via a small door to the right of the main portal, overlooked by a trio of gargoyle

Gargoyle

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...

s. The interior is a treasure trove of neo-Gothic ornamentation, with a succession of pinnacled altars overlooked by exuberant stained glass windows. The interior was finished off in 1938–1942 when leading Croatian painter Mirko Rački

Mirko Racki

Mirko Rački was a Croatian painter.Rački was born in Novi Marof, and graduated from the Teacher's Academy in Zagreb. He then went to the private art school of H. Strehblow in Vienna, then studied at the Academy in Prague under Vlaho Bukovac and in Vienna under W. Unger...

 covered the walls and ceilings with brightly coloured frescoes

Fresca

Fresca is a citrus diet soft drink made by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in the United States in 1966, the drink is now sold throughout the American continent...

 illustrating famous episodes from the Old

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 and New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

s.

Masses are held daily at 07:00 and 18:30, and on Sundays at 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 10:00, 11:30 and 18:30.

Trivia

• This is the tallest building in Croatia outside of Zagreb.
• Capacity of the church during the mass is over 3000 people.
• The church is built of three and a half million bricks, and has a colored stone altars.
• The four tower bells weigh 2665 kg, 1552 kg, 740 kg. and 331 kg.
• In 1991, during Croatian War of Independence
  Croatian War of Independence
  The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
  
  the church was heavily damaged.