Eltz Manor, Vukovar

Eltz Manor in Vukovar, Croatia is an 18th-century Baroque palace built by members of the German Catholic House of Eltz during the era of Habsburg rule. Constructed in the mid-1700s, the manor later housed the Vukovar City Museum and its image was reproduced on Croatia’s 20 kuna banknote issued in 1993 and 2001. The estate formed an important landed seat for the Eltz family on the eastern edge of Habsburg Slavonia and played a continuous role in local landholding and administration.

The estate’s modern story begins in 1736, when Philipp Karl von Eltz‑Kempenich, who served as Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire and Prince‑Archbishop of Mainz, acquired a manor in Vukovar while the region was ruled by Emperor Charles VI. Descendants of Philipp Karl undertook the main construction phase between 1749 and 1751, creating the Baroque palace and then enlarging it in stages over subsequent years. During this period the Lordship of Vukovar lay close to the Military Frontier, exposing its estates to raids by Ottoman troops and to activity by local Hajduk irregulars.

In the closing months of the Second World War, Yugoslav Partisans took control of the country and in 1944 the communist authorities confiscated the manor; the family of Jakob Graf zu Eltz was compelled to leave Vukovar. Jakob later returned from Eltville after the establishment of the modern Croatian state in 1990 and served as a member of the Croatian parliament in Zagreb. After his death in 2006 his heir Georg Graf von und Eltz‑Vukovar pursued a legal process to recover the family property.

During the Croatian War of Independence the palace endured severe destruction in 1991, when it was bombarded by the Yugoslav People’s Army during the Battle of Vukovar. Restoration work carried out after the conflict culminated in October 2011, when the building was returned to its pre-war appearance.