Croatian is the official first language. Serbian language with its Cyrillic alphabet is the officially recognised second language. In Cyrillic, Vrginmost is known as Вргинмост and (between 1996 and 2012) Gvozd as Гвозд.[citation needed]
The village of Vrginmost has existed since 1688, when it was part of the Military Region. According to the census of 1850, Gvozd had 30 houses and 341 inhabitants, and according to the census of 1921, 622 households. [7]
In 1942, Andrija Artuković ordered the killing of the entire population of Vrginmost and its surrounding villages in 1942, according to the charges laid against him in his deportation hearings in the United States.[10]
The town was officially known as Gvozd between 1996[11] and 23 October 2012.[why?] In 2012, its original name of Vrginmost was restored amid political controversy.[clarification needed][12][13][14]
NOTE: Historically, the municipality was known as Vrginmost until 1996, when both the municipality and the settlement were renamed to Gvozd. The old municipality of Vrginmost was divided into three new municipalities: Topusko, Lasinja and Gvozd.
Population of Vrginmost settlement by ethnicity[4][15]
The municipality had big population changes in various censuses, possibly because of war and because of frequent border changes of municipalities in Croatia:
In the 2001 census there were 3,779 people in the municipality, 58% of whom were ethnic Serbs and 40% Croats.[17] 3,575 declared their mother tongue as Croatian, 155 as Serbian, and 49 as other languages.[17]
Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs.[18] At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives electionsSerbs of Croatia fulfilled legal requirements to elect 10 members minority council of the Municipality of Gvozd.[19]
Monument to the Antifascist Uprising and Victims of Fascism - a bronze partisan sculpture by sculptor Zvonko Car erected in 1956. According to the witness' statements,[20] the monument was destroyed and its remains removed from the site in Vrginmost around 26 November 1995. Fragments of the monument's decorative mosaic featuring partisans had been recovered from garbage disposal site.
Abez Forest - site of the historical meeting, held on 19 July 1941, at which the leadership of the Croatian branch of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided that the people of the Kordun and Banija region raise against the nazi-fascist occupation[21]
Đedova kosidba - cultural and historical, tourist manifestation held in Vrginmost, nurturing the folk customs and traditions of Kordun and traditional ways of life. The one-day event, which was first held in 2010, takes place between May and late June and brings together amateur groups nurturing traditional folk dancing and singing from different regions of Croatia and north-west of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[23][24][25]
ITD Band [hr] - the first members of the Croatian/Yugoslav pop rock band were Vrginmost natives and residents: Branislav Bekić (vocals), Milan Bekić (bass guitar) and Nebojša Tepšić (drums). Rastislav Topoljski (keyboards), who joined the band later on, was another Vrginmost resident, while Jadranko Mileusnić (guitar) was a native of Vojnić.[28][29][30][31]