A small municipality halfway between Karlovac and Sisak is in the news for an unlikely reason: €466,000 of state money earmarked to repair the facade of a Catholic church barely two decades old. The Church of St. Peter and Paul in Gvozd was built in 2008, but lawmakers from the Homeland Movement pushed through the renovation fund as a budget amendment, citing facade damage and the need to prevent further decay.

Gvozd is not a tourist hotspot. It ranks in the lowest band of Croatia's development index, and the last census recorded a majority Serbian population — 62.63 percent. Young people have largely moved away in search of work, leaving an ageing population and quiet streets. The village got its first Orthodox church only a few years ago, and mayor Milan Vrga of the SDSS learned about the Catholic church renovation from the media. Still, he welcomed it: building work means jobs, and cafés and shops see more custom.

Not everyone sees the spending as a priority. Resident Milka Zorić-Dmitrović, herself a believer, pointed to the former court building in the centre of town and asked why it couldn't become a nursing home in a municipality full of older people. Others noted the near-total lack of activities — a library exists, but workshops and events are rare. The municipality has applied for Ministry of Construction funds to rebuild a culture centre that collapsed in an earthquake, and is still waiting for a decision.

The genuine bright spot is Suncokret, a non-profit association that runs after-school sessions for children, helps residents with paperwork and hosts international volunteers — including two from Finland. One of them, Jonathan, summed up the place honestly: a very quiet village with kind people, pleasant for a month, not for a year.

For travellers, the story is a window into a Croatia far from the Dalmatian coast — the depopulated interior of Banovina and Kordun, where recovery from war, earthquakes and emigration is slow and uneven. It's not a destination most will seek out, but volunteer placements, rural cycling routes between Karlovac and Sisak, and community-led projects like Suncokret offer a way to experience a side of Croatia rarely seen in brochures. The debate in Gvozd is a reminder that the country's most pressing stories often unfold in its emptiest places.

Reported by Total Croatia, citing Index.