Saint Teresa of Ávila Cathedral

Due to Bishop Franjo Thauszy’s efforts, the building of Saint Teresa of Avila church started in 1756, and it was ceremonially sanctified on July 24, 1763.

All the visitors are charmed by the church building which is 43 m long, and 22 m wide, with a 63-meter-high elegant tower. The main polychromed altar with a big painting of Saint Teresa of Avila, as well as the other altars, the pulpit, pews, four confessionals, and sacristy furniture were made in the baroque style with gilded rococo decorations.

At the end of the 19th century, the church was painted from the inside by Mato Celestin Medović and Oton Iveković. At that time, the church got a ceramic floor, it was decorated with new equipment, and side altars of Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Visitation in the so-called Tyrolean style.

A big storm in 1926 knocked down the bell tower cap onto the church roof, the ceiling was ruptured and the furniture was damaged. However, everything was fixed due to the contribution of the city administration and the parish community.

When the Diocese of Požega was founded on July 5, 1997, the church was raised to the dignity of a cathedral and thereby became the mother church of western and central Slavonia.

Thorough renovation and decoration started then under the leadership of Milko Puncer, an Osijek architect, who was advised by Father Ivan Marko Rupnik from Rome.

On September 27, 2007, the tenth anniversary of the constitution of the Diocese of Požega and the ordination of its first bishop, the new altar was ceremonially sanctified and the renovated Cathedral was blessed, and it was thereby constituted in the dignity it deserves.