Many famous people were born, educated, or lived in Vinkovci – writers, composers, painters and sculptors, actors and film directors. Among the famous people from Vinkovci, it would be unfair not to mention two emperors first, and that of Rome: the brothers Valens and Valentinian, the only Roman emperors born in the territory of present-day Croatia.
A governor was also born in Vinkovci, Governor Josip Šokčević, sub-marshal responsible for stimulating the economic life of larger Croatian cities and for the beginning of construction of the main railway lines…
Maybe you didn’t know that the Croatian national anthem was composed by a man from Vinkovci? Josip Runjanin was an amateur composer and an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. He socialized with Illyrian patriots where, among others, the works of Illyrian writers were also read. It was there that Runjanin first heard the poem “Horvatska domovina” (“Croatian Homeland”) by Antun Mihanović, whose selected verses were later declared the Croatian national anthem.
Along the Bosut, muses were especially fond of writers. Ivan and Josip Kozarac are from Vinkovci, as well as Matija Antun Reljković and Vladimir Kovačić.
It is impossible not to mention Slavko Kopač, born in Vinkovci and living in Paris, and academician Vanja Radauš for their contribution to the fine arts.