The Chapel of the Stone Cross erected by a merchant in memory of the legend of Romeo and Juliet in Osijek, in fact the death of a young man who was caught by cops late at night and charged with murder nearby. Since its inception, it has been specific among Slavonian sacral architecture, precisely because of the stories that surround it.
That is why many citizens of Osijek and the wider area came there to pray, and often undertook the right of pilgrimage to take advantage of its apotropaic character. Among them, the "ritual" of the scribble was known, which existed for almost the entire 19th century, and consisted of couples in love coming to the Chapel and jointly inserting a coin into the scribble that was there. There was a belief that this would bring them happiness and a harmonious relationship.
Apart from lovers, frequent visitors to the Chapel were also Roma who regularly made pilgrimages to the so-called "Dry Friday", ie the day after the Savior. It was a remarkable event in the year when the Roma had their own special ceremonies of mourning and vows, which often lasted until late into the night.
Also, the Chapel was visited by ordinary citizens of the Orthodox and Catholic faiths who wanted to pay tribute to those executed at the execution site, whose burial mounds were not far from the Chapel until 1870 when the terrain was leveled to build a railway that still passes there today. Considering that the Chapel was in greenery and outside the city walls, over time, its area became a favorite promenade of Osijek citizens.
In the early 18th century, a love affair flared between a shoemaker's son and a girl from a wealthy bourgeois family. Forbidden even before its conception, love was maintained in the only possible way: under the veil of night, in the most secluded part of the garden of the girl's house in the Upper Town. Returning one evening from a meeting of young men, he was intercepted by a military patrol looking for unknown thieves who broke into a store.
Found near her, and far from his house, he was immediately suspected of burglary (in those turbulent and dangerous times, strict order was maintained in Osijek. A court of emergency was acting day and night to get rid of predators and criminals).
Although the young man persistently denied any connection to the robbery, the judge was even more persistent.
His stubborn silence was enough proof for the nervous justice distributor to open the way for the young man to the execution site. Even as he took the last step, aggravated by a difficult fate that had suddenly been ruthlessly broken by the spread wings of love - on which it is so easy and comfortable to fly - he did not want to reveal a carefully guarded secret. And how can he do that when the decision about their secret wedding was stronger than the very embrace of death.
Two days after the execution, his girlfriend appeared before the judge and gave a posthumous alibi to the beloved young man. His noble act prompted her to wash away the shame from his name and to take it upon herself, ruining her own young life left without a future. After that statement, the court approved the unfortunate shoemaker to erect a monument to his only son - the Stone Cross.
From that day on, young couples come to him imagining their lives differently from the unfortunate fate that befell the girl and the young man from their town.
Kako je život surov!