Croatian Cities – Vukovar

The reverse shows Vukovar’s landmark water tower, crowned by the Croatian flag, which stands as a powerful monument to the city’s historic resistance, defence and endurance. Facing it, the Danube flows harmoniously through the scene as a lifeline and a defining natural feature. The occasion “GRAD VUKOVAR”, the country name “HRVATSKA”, the designer’s initials “MD” and the year “2026” appear in the inner part of the coin. The twelve stars of the European flag on the outer ring complete the motif.

Vukovar lies at the eastern edge of Croatia, where the Vuka flows into the Danube, and belongs to those Central European towns whose name is inseparably linked to the upheavals of the 20th century. For centuries the town was an important trading centre of the Slavonia and Syrmia regions, shaped by the coexistence of various population groups and by its position on one of Europe’s major rivers. The striking water tower on the banks of the Danube, built in the 1960s, was long a natural part of the townscape and of everyday life — until the Croatian War of Independence turned it into a silent witness to the months-long siege of 1991. Riddled with countless impacts, it remained standing while large parts of the town fell into ruins.

After the war the tower was deliberately not fully restored, but secured in its damaged state and preserved as a memorial. Today it rises above Vukovar with the Croatian flag at its top and is regarded across the country as a powerful symbol of resistance, defence and the town’s endurance. At its foot flows the Danube, ever the lifeline and defining natural beauty of the region. With the 2026 2-euro commemorative coin from the “Croatian Cities” series, Croatia brings Vukovar into focus and places precisely this motif at its centre — a place where the country’s history, memory and self-assertion converge in a small space.