With its 63 meters high baroque bell tower, the Požega cathedral dominates the city skyline. Although the bishopric was founded at the end of the 20th century, the size of the church shows it was built to become a cathedral church. The construction took only three years, from 1756 to 1759 and was financed by Franjo Thauzy, the bishop of Zagreb. The blueprints for the church were a present from the queen and empress Maria Theresia. As a way of giving thanks to the empress, the cathedral was consecrated in the name of her heavenly guardian St. Theresa de Avila. A memory plaque above the main entrance was placed there in memory of that event in 1763.
The cathedral was built in the Viennese baroque style and its interior was done in the late baroque and rococo style. The monumental main altar holds the painting of St. Theresa by an unknown author and the wall frescoes were done by famous Croatian painters Celestin Medović and Oton Iveković in 1898 and 1899. When the bishopric was established in 1997 the Cathedral was renovated again and some ten years later the new great organs were ordered from the Eisenbarth organ workshop in Passau, Germany. The cathedral tower holds 6 bells, and the largest one weighing 1500 kg was named “Christ today and forever”, after the motto of the first bishop of Požega, dr. Antun Škovrčević.
The cathedral crypt which houses the chapel of the blessed Pope John Paul the Second is open to the public. The cathedral also holds a treasury with a rich collection of sacral artifacts. Those include liturgy dishes and late gothic chalices from the 15th and 16th century, the mitre and chasuble worn by bishop Franjo Thauszy, the cathedral builder, as well as other liturgical vestments and other artifacts given to the church as a present by the queen and empress Maria Theresia in the 18th century. More recent additions to the treasury date back to the end of the 20th century and are mostly liturgical artefacts that were used at the ordination of the first bishop Msgr. Antun Škvorčević on September 27th 1997. A visit to the cathedral treasury can be arranged by the parish vicarage and all art lovers should visit the Diocese Museum located next to the cathedral with an even more impressive art collection.
Among the stories about the Požega cathedral, one legend from not so long ago stands out. In the 1920s a tradesman named Luka Ilijašević lived in Požega, to all much better known as the eternal bachelor. When asked when he would finally marry, he’d answer: “When the tower of St Theresa crumbles down!”, thinking of course that could never happen. But in the summer of 1926 in a horrific summer storm, the top of the tower broke off and fell thru the roof down to the crypt. Not long after, the cathedral tower was renovated and the “bećar” (lad) Luka finally stood at the altar with his beloved fiancé.