The Council of Europe and European Commission awarded a grant to “V4+V virtual train journey” application submitted to the 2024 Call for European Heritage Days Stories!
Our story:
Once upon a time, today’s Vojvodina was an undeveloped wetland part of the glorious Habsburg Monarchy. Isolated, inaccessible and uninhabited, it has been quietly waiting for a connection with the world for decades. Suddenly, a miracle happened! A heated black stove with cupboards changed the history of the region! Train!
Even though it was a peripheral area of the Monarchy, today’s Vojvodina played a significant role in its railway infrastructure. And why? It supplied the dominant part of the Monarchy with its coal and fed the whole country with its wheat. That was more than enough for the creation and rapid development of the railway network here.
During the 19th century, today’s Vojvodina acquired a dense railway network of principal and local railways. In addition to contributing to economic development, these railways played a significant role in the cultural progress of the population, especially in smaller settlements. Every village next to the railway became a part of the European cultural space!
In the second half of the 20th century, the car gradually replaced the train! Local railways were slowly losing their importance, and by the end of the century, they became out of use. The railroads are no longer there, but their tracks can still be seen in the fields and meadows. Today, only abandoned railway stations are silent witnesses of the not-so-distant glorious past.
What kind of message does such a collapsed and neglected railway heritage convey to young people who have never experienced the magic of train rides?
Embark on our virtual train journey! Get to know the history and modernity of railway heritage in the Visegrad region and Vojvodina!