The Easternmost Point of Slovenia – Expedition into Murska Šuma

Boštjan Burger (October 2012, revision January 2026)

1. Introduction: the question of Slovenia’s easternmost point

The easternmost point of Slovenia? At first glance a simple question, yet a look at various maps quickly shows that the answer is not so straightforward. Online maps proved unreliable, so we used as our baseline a classic topographic map at a scale of 1:50,000 from the time of former Yugoslavia, which was expected to be uncontroversial. We then checked the 1:20,000 scale and finally the cadastre.

Before departure, the bureaucratic part had to be arranged: visiting the easternmost point required obtaining police permission, and the visit had to be carried out in the presence of a police patrol. The police unit was conducting a regular inspection of the border area, and we joined them at the assigned time.

2. Field access: the route through the Murska Šuma

The beginning of the seven‑kilometre route on a foggy late morning in the Murska Forest felt almost cinematic. The quad bike pushed its way through the swampy terrain of the floodplain, mostly in low‑gear drive, until the last two kilometres had to be completed on foot.

Almost a primeval forest. Billions of mosquitoes—literally. Around two hundred bites even through clothing. But it was worth it: the easternmost point of Slovenia was reached. It sounded like an excerpt from a story “through desert and thicket”, yet the area is truly remote, at least the last two kilometres. A little or a lot—depending on how you see it. The mosquitoes were certainly spared from being observed up close.

3. What is an exclave?

An exclave is a part of a country’s territory that is completely separated from the mainland and has no land connection to the parent state; it can be reached only by passing through the territory of another country.

Some maps suggested that the peninsula between the Krka and Mura rivers was such a Slovenian exclave. Field verification, however, revealed a different picture.

4. Historical and legal context: the borders of the republics within Yugoslavia

During the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia and the Socialist Republic of Croatia held the status of constitutional republics with their own statehood, their own constitutions, and clearly defined republican borders.

These borders were drawn into official maps, confirmed by federal acts, and marked with federal boundary stones. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, they became internationally recognised state borders, in accordance with the principle of uti possidetis iuris.

In areas where the Mura River meandered and changed its course, disagreements regarding the border arose, but a clear rule applied: the external border is determined by the federal boundary stones, not by the current riverbed.

5. The European Union, Schengen, and political reality

Slovenia became a member of the European Union in 2004 and entered the Schengen Area in 2007. Croatia, at the time of the 2012 expedition, was not yet an EU member, which meant that Slovenia was the only EU member in this remote part of the Murska Forest and thus the guardian of the EU’s external Schengen border.

One would expect the European Union—an organisation founded on law, solidarity, and respect for international borders—to protect its member state in cases of interference with its territory or manipulation of historical federal boundary stones. But the reality was quite different. The EU generally did not intervene in bilateral border disputes, even though this area formally constituted part of the Union’s external border.

This created the impression that Slovenia was left to fend for itself in this part of Europe—and that political reality often outweighed legal principles.

6. Expedition revision in January 2026: a new political perspective

This is precisely why, in January 2026, I decided to revisit and revise my expedition into the Murska Forest. Not only for geographical accuracy, but also because the political background has become even more complex in recent years.

Europe has entered a period in which questions of borders, sovereignty, security, and political pressure are resurfacing. Situations occurring on the extreme edges of the European space are often overlooked, yet it is precisely there that one can most clearly see how European solidarity functions—or fails to function.

Denmark, an EU member, faces similar dilemmas in relation to Greenland, which is not part of the EU but is subject to geopolitical pressures reminiscent of those Slovenia experienced on its border with Croatia.

Although it is a completely different environment—Arctic, sparsely populated, strategically important—the pattern is similar: when the interests of major powers, capital, and security structures intertwine, even EU member states can find themselves in situations where law and solidarity recede into the background.

Thus, the question increasingly arises whether the EU truly rests on law and solidarity, or whether it is in fact a community driven by the interests of capital and political pragmatism. The era of political naïveté has ended.

7. Field analysis: exclave or not?

Before the fieldwork, it appeared that Slovenia might have an exclave in this area, so we followed boundary stones of type A, which in Yugoslav times marked the internationally recognised state border between SR Slovenia and Hungary.

When we reached the last stone marked A and the first boundary stone of type B, marking the state border between SR Croatia and Hungary, the assumption of an exclave was disproven. Up to the confluence of the Krka and Mura rivers, there is a narrow but continuous strip of Slovenian territory, which we verified and documented in situ.

8. Irregularities in the field and an open political question

Along the way, we noticed some “strange” interventions: someone had repainted or modified several type A boundary stones and carved into them the inscription “R. Croatia”. It was most likely an act of vandalism or local mischief—who knows.

In any case, such behaviour is entirely non‑European, “makeshift”, and shows no understanding of the significance of a state border.

But this raises an unpleasant yet unavoidable question: why did Slovenian politics allow individuals from the territory of the Republic of Croatia to alter or even uproot the boundary stones of the Yugoslav federation—historical state borders that later became the border of the European Union?

Was it political caution, fear of escalating relations, underestimation of the importance of the border area, or simply a lack of interest in the remote, flood‑prone plains of the Murska Forest? The question remains open.

9. Final conclusion: Slovenia’s easternmost point

The easternmost land point of the Republic of Slovenia is the confluence of the Krka and Mura rivers. The muddy promontory at the confluence constantly retreats and reshapes due to flooding. Precise positioning with two GPS receivers showed that the tri‑border point (Slovenia–Croatia–Hungary) lies in the riverbed below the confluence.

The peninsula between the Krka and Mura rivers appears in the cadastre as a Slovenian exclave, but an analysis of boundary stones—A646 east of the confluence of the Ledava and Krka, A648, A651, and A653—shows that along both the left and right banks of the Krka there is a narrow Slovenian corridor connecting the confluence of the Krka and Mura. This means that it is not an exclave, but continuous Slovenian territory.

10. Typology of boundary stones

Type A boundary stones Historical boundary stones of the Republic of Slovenia (in SFRY times: the border between SR Slovenia and Hungary).

Type B boundary stones Historical boundary stones of the Republic of Croatia (in SFRY times: the border between SR Croatia and Hungary), beginning with marker B1.