Murals
The Bjelovar graffiti artist Pavle Tandara and the culture officer in the city of Bjelovar, Tvrtko Hopek, are responsible for the street art festival 43 Jam, which has lasted more than 15 years in Bjelovar and thanks to which the city has been decorated with the works of more than 240 street artists from all over the world. Among them were some of the most respected names of the Croatian street art scene, such as Slaven Lunar, Chez 186 and Modul, as well as foreign ones, which so far included Farid from Mexico, Azram from Slovenia, Sawer from France and a number of others.
The festival started as a graffiti festival, but soon developed into a mural festival, during which the entire facades of residential buildings, playgrounds and other city facilities are painted. The visiting artists themselves choose the motifs they will paint, and the goal is to beautify dilapidated walls, bring a touch of color and positive energy and make the streets a kind of open-air gallery.
A walk through Bjelovar today is really like exploring some kind of open-air gallery and you never know in which corner you will be delighted by the sight of a new painting on a building or in a park. So, if your trip takes you to Bjelovar, be sure to save some time for a carefree walk and immediate discovery of street art works.
Statues
In the central park on Eugen Kvaternik Square in the very center of Bjelovar, there are four sacred statues erected in 1777 and 1778. One is dedicated to Saint Teresa of Avila, patroness of the founder of Bjelovar, Empress and Queen Maria Theresa, after whom the Bjelovar cathedral is named. One is dedicated to the patron saint of the 6th Frontier Regiment (Đurđevačka), St. George, one to the patron saint of the 5th Frontier Regiment (Križevačka), St. Jelena Križarica, and one to the patron saint of confessional secrets, St. Ivan Nepomuk.
All four statues were demolished in 1949, but they were preserved, thoroughly restored and were re-erected in their old positions on September 22, 2000. It is interesting that to this day it remains unknown who sculpted those four baroque statues and why one of them is dedicated to St. Ivan Nepomuk.
Even outside the old city center, there are a number of statues, sculptures and monuments throughout Bjelovar, among which it is certainly worth mentioning those of the prominent Bjelovar sculptor Vojin Bakić. His reconstruction of the Call to Uprising monument, a bronze sculpture created between 1946 and 1947, is located in the Borik Memorial Area. There is also the Mirror sculpture from the Light Shapes series, which is located in front of IV Elementary School in Bjelovar.