Ličko Petrovo Selo is a village in Lika, Croatia. It is located near the Plitvice Lakes. It is connected by the D1 highway. East of the village, the D217 ends at the Ličko Petrovo Selo border crossing with Bosnia and Herzegovina (continuing to Izačić and on to Bihać).

Ličko Petrovo Selo
Village
Ličko Petrovo Selo is located in Croatia
Ličko Petrovo Selo
Ličko Petrovo Selo
Coordinates: 44°52′49″N 15°42′42″E / 44.880242°N 15.711789°E / 44.880242; 15.711789
Country Croatia
RegionLika
County Lika-Senj
MunicipalityPlitvička Jezera
Area
 • Total17.9 km2 (6.9 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
 • Total54
 • Density3.0/km2 (7.8/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
53233

Founded in 1792, Ličko Petrovo Selo was historically a majority Serb community and has an Orthodox church. During World War II, as part of the genocide of ethnic Serbs, in summer 1941 the Croatian Ustaše regime killed about 890 inhabitants of Ličko Petrovo Selo and the nearby village of Melinovac, throwing their bodies into a pit.[3] The village was largely destroyed.[4]

Ličko Petrovo Selo was rebuilt in the 1970s. Factories and Željava Air Base were nearby, as well as the Plitvice Lakes national park, which opened in 1949.[4] During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, it was within the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina and again was extensively destroyed. Most residents fled, and in the 2020s the village has a population of a few hundred, mostly elderly, with some houses being second homes and many yet to be repaired. There is a post office and a 58-room hotel, opened in 2019 on the site of the school.[4]

Notable people edit

References edit

  1. ^ Register of spatial units of the State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia. Wikidata Q119585703.
  2. ^ "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2021 Census". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in 2021. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. 2022.
  3. ^ Đuro Zatezalo, "Radio sam svoj seljački i kovački posao": svjedočanstva genocida, Zagreb: SKD Prosvijeta, 2005, ISBN 953-6627-79-5, p. 304.
  4. ^ a b c Debbie Rolls, "In Croatia, a hotel trying to heal war wounds", BBC Travel, 21 October 2022.