Bilje, Croatia

Bilje is a municipality in the Baranja region of Osijek-Baranja County, in north-eastern Croatia. It is 5 km northeast of Osijek, on the edge of the Kopački Rit nature park. Prince Eugene of Savoy constructed a hunting lodge here, Bilje Castle, which later became property of the Teschen branch of the Habsburg family.

Name

Its name derived from the Slavic word "bilje". In German the village is known as Belje, in Hungarian as Bellye, and in Serbian Cyrillic as Биље. The area occupied by the municipality of Bilje is 260.15 km².

The municipality of Bilje include following settlements and population :

Since records began in 1981, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station was, on 24 August 2012.

At the 2011 census, there were 5,642 inhabitants in the municipality, including:

Although though the Government of the Republic of Croatia does not guarantee official Croatian-Hungarian bilinguialism here, the statute of Bilje itself does. Preserving traditional Hungarian place names and assigning street names to Hungarian historical figures is legally mandated and carried out.
Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs. At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections Hungarians and Serbs of Croatia each fulfilled legal requirements to elect 10 members municipal minority councils of the Bilje Municipality.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Bilje was part of the Baranya County of the Kingdom of Hungary.