Sights in Dubrovnik
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Dubrovnik City Walls
No visit to Dubrovnik would be complete without a leisurely walk around the city walls. Built between the 13th and 16th centuries and still intact today, these powerful walls are the finest in the world and Dubrovnik's main claim to fame.
The first set of walls to enclose the city were built in the 13th century. In the middle of the 14th century the 1.5m-thick walls were fortified with 15 square forts. The threat of attacks from the Turks in the 15th century prompted the city to strengthen the existing forts and add new ones so that the entire Old Town is now contained within a curtain of stone over 2km long and up to 25m high. The walls are thicker on the land side - up …
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Rector’s Palace
The Gothic-Renaissance Rector’s Palace was built in the late 15th century and is adorned with outstanding sculptural ornamentation. It retains a striking compositional unity despite being rebuilt many times. Notice the finely carved capitals and the ornate staircase in the atrium, which is often used for concerts during the Summer Festival. Also in the atrium is a statue of Miho Pracat, who bequeathed his wealth to the Republic and was the only commoner in the 1000 years of the Republic’s existence to be honoured with a statue (1638). We may assume that the bequest was considerable. The palace was built for the rector who governed Dubrovnik, and it contains the rector’s o…
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Franciscan Monastery & Museum
Over the doorway of this monastery is a remarkable pietà sculpted by the local masters Petar and Leonard Andrijić in 1498. Unfortunately, the portal is all that remains of the richly decorated church, which was destroyed in the 1667 earthquake. Inside the monastery complex is a mid-14th-century cloister, one of the most beautiful late-Romanesque structures in Dalmatia. Notice how each capital over the incredibly slim dual columns is topped by a different figure, portraying human heads, animals and floral arrangements. Also enjoyable is the small square garden that’s shaded by orange and palm trees.
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Memorial Room of the Defenders of Dubrovnik
Also in the interior is the Memorial Room of the Defenders of Dubrovnik, a heartbreaking collection of portraits of young people who perished between 1991 and 1995.
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Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin
Built on the site of a 7th-century basilica that was enlarged in the 12th century, the original Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin was supposedly the result of a gift from England’s King Richard I, the Lionheart, who was saved from a shipwreck on the nearby island of Lokrum. Soon after the first cathedral was destroyed in the 1667 earthquake, work began on this new cathedral, which was finished in 1713 in a baroque style. The cathedral is notable for its fine altars, especially the altar of St John Nepomuk, made of violet marble. The cathedral treasury contains relics of St Blaise as well as 138 gold and silver reliquaries largely made in the workshops of Dubrovn…
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Sponza Palace
The 16th-century Sponza Palace was originally a customs house, then a minting house, a state treasury and a bank. Now it houses the State Archives, which contain a priceless collection of manuscripts dating back nearly a thousand years. This superb structure is a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles beginning with an exquisite Renaissance portico resting on six columns. The 1st floor has late-Gothic windows and the 2nd-floor windows are in a Renaissance style, with an alcove containing a statue of St Vlaho. Also inside is the Memorial Room of the Defenders of Dubrovnik, a heartbreaking collection of portraits of young people who perished between 1991 and 1995.
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Dominican Monastery & Museum
This imposing structure is a real architectural highlight, built in a transitional Gothic-Renaissance style, and has a rich trove of paintings. Constructed around the same time as the city walls in the 14th century, the stark exterior resembles a fortress more than a religious complex. The interior contains a graceful 15th-century cloister constructed by local artisans after the designs of the Florentine architect Massa di Bartolomeo, and a large, single-naved church with an altarpiece by Vlaho Bukovac. The eastern wing contains the monastery’s impressive art collection; notice the works of Nikola Božidarević, Dobrić Dobričević and Mihajlo Hamzić.
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State Archives
The 16th-century Sponza Palace houses the State Archives, which contain a priceless collection of manuscripts dating back nearly a thousand years. This superb structure is a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles beginning with an exquisite Renaissance portico resting on six columns. The 1st floor has late-Gothic windows and the 2nd-floor windows are in a Renaissance style, with an alcove containing a statue of St Vlaho. Also inside is the Memorial Room of the Defenders of Dubrovnik, a heartbreaking collection of portraits of young people who perished between 1991 and 1995.
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Ethnographic Museum
The ethnographic heritage of Croatia is catalogued in this museum inside a domed 1903 building. Out of 70,000 items, about 2750 are on display, including ceramics, jewellery, musical instruments, tools, weapons and Croatian folk costumes, including gold-embroidered scarves from Slavonia and lace from the island of Pag. Thanks to donations from the Croatian explorers Mirko and Stevo Seljan, there are also artefacts from South America, the Congo, Ethiopia, China, Japan, New Guinea and Australia. Temporary exhibitions are often held on the 2nd floor.
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Cable Car
Now reopened after 19 years, Dubrovnik’s cable car whisks you from just north of the city walls up to Mt Srđ in under four minutes. At the end of the line there’s a stupendous perspective of the city from a lofty 405m, down to the terracotta-tiled rooftops of the old town and the island of Lokrum, with the Adriatic and distant Elafiti Islands filling the horizon. Telescopes help you pick out details far, far below. There’s a snack bar and a restaurant and the Museum of the Homeland War (currently under renovation) is close by.
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St Ignatius Church
Built in the same style as the cathedral and completed in 1725, the St Ignatius Church has frescos displaying scenes from the life of St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit society. Abutting the church is the Jesuit College, located at the top of a broad flight of stairs leading down to the square Gundulićeva Poljana, where a bustling morning market is held. The monument in the centre of the square is of Dubrovnik’s famous poet, Ivan Gundulić. Reliefs on the pedestal depict scenes from his epic poem, Osman.
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Onofrio Fountain
The fountain is one of Dubrovnik's most famous landmarks. It was built in 1438 as part of a water-supply system that involved bringing water from a well 12km away. Originally the fountain was adorned with sculpture, but it was heavily damaged in the 1667 earthquake and only 16 carved masks remain with water jets gushing from their mouths into a drainage pool.
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Orlando Column
The Luža Sq was formerly used as a market place. The Orlando Column is a popular meeting place that used to be the place where edicts, festivities and public verdicts were announced. Carved in 1417, the forearm of this medieval knight was the official linear measure of the Republic - the ell of Dubrovnik, which measures 51.1cm.
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Serbian Orthodox Church & Museum
Dating from 1877, the Serbian Orthodox Church & Museum has a fascinating collection of icons dating from the 15th to 19th century. In addition to portraits of the biblical family originating in Crete, Italy, Russia and Slovenia, there are several portraits by the illustrious Croatian painter Vlaho Bukovac.
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Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Treasury
The treasury contains relics of St Blaise as well as 138 gold and silver reliquaries largely made in the workshops of Dubrovnik's goldsmiths between the 11th and 17th centuries. Among a number of religious paintings, the most striking is the polyptych of the Assumption of the Virgin, made in Titian's workshop.
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Pile Gate
Begin your visit at Old Town's Pile Gate, which dates from 1537. Notice the statue of St Blaise, the city's patron saint, set in a niche over the Renaissance arch. Originally, the drawbridge at the gate's entrance was lifted every evening, the gate was closed and the key handed to the prince.
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Banje Beach
Banje Beach is the closest beach to the Old Town, just beyond the 17th-century Lazareti (a former quarantine station) outside Ploče Gate. Although many people rent lounge chairs and parasols from the nearby EastWest Club, there's no problem with just flinging a towel on the beach.
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Luža Square Clock Tower
The Clock Tower dominates the square and makes an elegant punctuation point at the end of Placa. First built in 1444, it was restored many times, most recently in 1929, and is notable for the two bronze figures in the bell tower that ring out the hours.
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City Walls & Forts
No visit to Dubrovnik would be complete without a leisurely walk around the spectacular city walls, the finest in the world and Dubrovnik’s main claim to fame. Built between the 13th and 16th centuries, they are still intact today.
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War Photo Limited
An immensely powerful experience, this state-of-the-art photographic gallery has beautifully displayed and reproduced exhibitions curated by photojournalist Wade Goddard, who worked in the Balkans in the 1990s.
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Synagogue
The oldest Sephardic and second-oldest synagogue in the Balkans dates back to the 15th century. Inside is a museum that exhibits religious relics, documentation on the local Jewish population and WWII remains.
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Little Onofrio Fountain
Little Onofrio Fountain is part of the same water project as its larger cousin to the west but built to supply water to the market place on Luža Sq.
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Lapad Bay
There are hotel beaches along the Lapad Bay, which you are able to use without a problem. The largest beach is outside the Hotel Kompas.
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Maritime Museum
This museum traces the history of navigation in Dubrovnik with ship models, navigational objects and paintings.
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Dubrovnik Synagogue
This city's 15th-century synagogue is the oldest Sephardic and the second-oldest synagogue in Europe.
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