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Dubrovnik
The walled city of Dubrovnik
The walled city of Dubrovnik
Coat of arms of Dubrovnik
Coat of arms
Nickname: 
Pearl of the Adriatic
1995 map of Dubrovnik
1995 map of Dubrovnik
CountryCroatia
CountyDubrovnik-Neretva county
Government
 • MayorDubravka Šuica (HDZ)
Area
 • Total21.35 km2 (8.24 sq mi)
Population
 (2001)
 • Total43,770
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
20000
Area code020
Licence plateDU

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Stradun, Dubrovnik's main street

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Rooftops in Dubrovnik's Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Dubrovnik bridge of Franjo Tuđman and the Port of Gruž

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Onofrio's Fountain

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Rector's Palace

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Forteresse de Dubrovnik

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For the Dubrovnik meteorite of 1951, see meteorite falls.

Dubrovnik (IPA: [ˈdǔ.bro̞ːʋ.nik], Dalmatian and Italian Ragusa (official name until 1909), Latin Ragusium, also Rhausium, Rhaugia) is a historic city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its population was 43,770 in 2001[1] down from 49,728 in 1991.[2] In the 2001 census, 88.39% of its citizens declared themselves as Croats.

Since 1979, the historic centre of Dubrovnik has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The prosperity of the city of Dubrovnik has always been based on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages, as the Republic of Ragusa, it became the only eastern Adriatic city-state to rival Venice. Analogous to the famous four Italian maritime Republics, Ragusa was also known as the fifth maritime Republic of the Mediterranean sea. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a remarkable level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries. Ragusa was one of the centres of the development of primarily the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars.

Name

In Croatian, the city is known as Dubrovnik and in Dalmatian, Italian, Latin and formerly in English as Ragusa (earlier Ragusium, Rhausium, Rhaugia; Greek: Ραυγια, Ραγουσα). However, today more and more Italian sources use name Dubrovnik instead of Ragusa. [1][2][3]

The Slavic toponym Dubrovnik comes from the name of a Slavic tribe, the Dubrons, which had gained a foothold around the oak forest (dubrava meaning "oak forest") in the hills north of the walled city of Ragusa by the end of the 11th century.

Pressured by hostile tribes from the interior, the Dubrons asked the Republic to grant them refuge inside the walls and they obtained the right of asylum and the residence in a marginal quarter of the city. Among themselves, the refugees named the quarter after their native-born village: Dubrovnik.

The current name was officially adopted in 1909, when the city under Austro-Hungarian rule.

History

From the foundation to the end of the Republic

Main article: Republic of Dubrovnik
Republic of Ragusa before 1808

Ragusa (Raugia) was founded in the 7th century on a rocky island named Laus, which provided shelter for Latin refugees from the nearby city of Epidaurus, today's Cavtat also Ragusavecchia. Some time later a settlement of Slavic people grew at the foot of the forested Srđ hill. This settlement gives to the city its Slavic name "Dubrovnik".

The strip of wetland between Ragusa and Dubrava was reclaimed in the 12th century, unifying the city around the newly-made plaza (today Placa or Stradun). The plaza was paved in 1468 and reconstructed after the earthquake of 1667. The city was fortified and two harbours were built on each side of the isthmus.

From its establishment in the 7th century, the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. After the Crusades, Ragusa/Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205–1358), and by the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358, it became part of the Hungaro-Croatian reign.

Between the 14th century and 1808 Ragusa ruled itself as a free state. The Republic had its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, when its thalassocracy rivaled that of the Republic of Venice and other Italian maritime republics.

The Republic of Dubrovnik received its own Statutes as early as 1272, statutes which, among other things, codified Roman practice and local customs. The Statutes included prescriptions for town planning and the regulation of quarantine (for hygienic reasons). The Republic was very inventive regarding laws and institutions that were developed very early:

  • Medical service was introduced in 1301
  • The first pharmacy (still working) was opened in 1317
  • A refuge for old people was opened in 1347
  • The first quarantine hospital (Lazarete) was opened in 1377
  • Slave trading was abolished in 1418
  • The orphanage was opened in 1432
  • The water supply system (20 kilometers) was constructed in 1436

The city was ruled by aristocracy that formed two city councils. As usual for the time, they maintained a strict system of social classes. The republic abolished the slave trade early in the 15th century and valued liberty highly. The city successfully balanced its sovereignty between the interests of Venice and the Ottoman Empire for centuries.

The economic wealth of the Republic was partially the result of the land it developed, but especially of the seafaring trade it did. With the help of skilled diplomacy, Ragusa's merchants traveled lands freely, and on the sea the city had a huge fleet of merchant ships (argosy) that traveled all over the world. From these travels they founded some settlements, from India to America, and brought parts of their culture and vegetation home with them. One of the keys to success was not conquering, but trading and sailing under a white flag with the word freedom (Latin: Libertas) prominently featured on it. That flag was adopted when slave trading was abolished in 1418.

Many Conversos (Marranos) — Jews from Spain and Portugal — were attracted to the city. In May, 1544, a ship landed there filled exclusively with Portuguese refugees, as Balthasar de Faria reported to King John. During this time there worked in the city one of the most famous cannon and bell founders of his time: Ivan Rabljanin (Magister Johannes Baptista Arbensis de la Tolle).

The Republic gradually declined after a crisis of Mediterranean shipping — and especially a catastrophic earthquake in 1667 that killed over 5000 citizens, including the Rector, leveling most of the public buildings — ruined the well-being of the Republic. In 1699 the Republic sold two patches of its territory to the Ottomans in order to avoid terrestrial borderline, with advancing Venetian forces.

In 1806 the city surrendered to French forces, as that was the only way to cut a month's long siege by the Russian-Montenegrin fleets (during which 3000 cannon balls fell on the city). At first Napoleon demanded only free passage for his troops, promising not to occupy the territory and stressing that the French were friends of the Ragusans. Later, however, French forces blockaded the harbours, forcing the government to give in and let French troops enter the city. On this day, all flags and coats of arms above the city walls were painted black as a sign of grief. In 1808, Marshal Marmont abolished the republic and integrated its territory into the Illyrian provinces.

Austrian rule

When the Habsburg Empire gained these provinces after the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the new imperial authorities installed a bureaucratic administration, which retained the essential framework of the Italian-speaking system. It introduced a series of modifications intended to centralize, albeit slowly, the bureaucratic, tax, religious, educational, and trade structures. Unfortunately for the local residents, these centralization strategies, which were intended to stimulate the economy, largely failed. And once the personal, political and economic trauma of the Napoleonic Wars had been overcome, new movements began to form in the region, calling for a political reorganization of the Adriatic along national lines.

The combination of these two forces—a flawed Habsburg administrative system and new national movements claiming ethnicity as the founding block towards a community—created a particularly perplexing problem; for Dalmatia was a province ruled by the German-speaking, centralizing Habsburg monarchy, with Italian-speaking elites that dominated a general population consisting of a Croatian, Catholic Slav majority and strong Serb Orthodox minority. Though always an unreliable estimate[citation needed], census takers in 1846 counted 16,000 Italians, 320,000 Croatians and 80,000 Serbs.

In 1815 the former Ragusan Government, i.e. its noble assembly, met for the last time in the ljetnikovac in Mokošica. Once again heavy efforts were undertaken to reestablish the Republic however this time it was all in vain. After the fall of the Republic most of the aristocracy died out and emigrated overseas. Others were recognized by the Austrian Empire.

In 1848, the Croatian Assembly (Sabor) published the People's Requests in which they requested among other things the abolition of serfdom and the unification of Dalmatia with the rest of Croatian lands (primarily with Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Croatia). The Dubrovnik municipality was the most outspoken of all the Dalmatian communes in its support for unification with Croatia. A letter was sent to Zagreb with pledges to work for this idea. In 1849, Dubrovnik continued to lead the Dalmatian cities in the struggle for unification. A large-scale campaign was launched in the local paper L'Avvenire (The Future) based on a clearly formulated programme: the federal system for the Habsburg territories, the inclusion of Dalmatia into united Croatia and the Slavic brotherhood.

In the same year, the first issue of the Dubrovnik almanac appeared, Flower of the National Literature (Dubrovnik, cvijet narodnog knjizevstva), in which Petar Preradović published his noted poem "To Dubrovnik". This and other literary and journalistic texts, which continued to be published, contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness reflected in efforts to introduce the Croatian language into schools and offices, and to promote Croatian books. The Emperor Franz Joseph brought the so-called Imposed Constitution which prohibited the unification of Dalmatia and Croatia and also any further political activity with this end in view. The political struggle of Dubrovnik to be united with Croatia, which was intense throughout 1848 and 1849, did not succeed at that time.

In 1861 the Dalmatian Assembly met for the first time, with representatives from Ragusa. Representatives of Cattaro (now Kotor) came to join the struggle for unification with Croatia. The citizens of Ragusa gave them a festive welcome, flying Croatian flags from the ramparts, and exhibiting the slogan: Ragusa with Cattaro. The people of Cattaro elected a delegation to go to Vienna; Ragusa nominated Niko Pucic (National Party). Niko Pucic went to Vienna to demand not only the unification of Dalmatia with Croatia, but also the unification of all Croatian territories under one common Assembly.

Austrian rule and the Austro-Hungarian rule which followed lasted for more than a century and were typified by the motto of the world powers of that time: Divide et impera (Divide and rule). The Austrian policy of denationalizing the Dalmatian coasts and favoring the immigrant Italian minority left its mark in the political division of the population as best expressed in the political parties: the Croatian People's Party and the Autonomous Party (Conte Francesco Borelli (*1810 +1884) said: we are slavs for nationality but italian for culture (the dalmatian were born to the sea (adriatic sea).... the autonomist want a multicultural region, with respect for the ancient italian roots and the slavs tradition, about the Dalmatia destiny, they deny the unification with Croatia, because Dalmatia had different roots and multicultural traditions: croatian catholics, serbian orthodox, serbian-croat muslims, italian dalmatian, the people were bilingual, spoken slavonian (dialect modern serbo-croat) and Italian (istrian, dalmatian-veneto dialect), etc.).

This political division also had its roots in class, as the greater part of the autonomous party, which wanted Dalmatian autonomy in the frame of Austria and was against joining the other parts of Croatia, as wanted by the Croatian People's Party, belonged to the richer strata of officials and administrators.

In 1889, the Serbian political circle in Dubrovnik supported Baron Francesco Ghetaldi-Gondola, the candidate of the Autonomous Party, in the 1890 election to the Dalmatian Diet.[3] In the following year during the election of the local government, the Autonomous Party with the Serbian Party won the municipal election in Dubrovnik. Francesco Ghetaldi-Gondola was founded the Societa Philately in 4 December 1890.

In 1893, the minister of the city, the Baron Francesco Ghetaldi-Gondola, opened the monument for Ivan Gundulić in Piazza Gundulić (Gondola).

Yugoslavia (1921–1991)

With the fall of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the city was incorporated into the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The city's name was officially changed from Ragusa into Dubrovnik.

In World War II, Dubrovnik became part of the Independent State of Croatia, even if occupied by the Italian army first, and the by the German army after September 1943. In October 1944 Tito's partisans entered in Dubrovnik, that became consequently part of the Communist Yugoslavia. Soon after their arrival into the city, the Partisans sentenced approximately 78 citizens to death without trial, including a Catholic priest.[4]

The breakdown of Yugoslavia

Main article: Siege of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik Shelling (black dots) 1991 to 1992.

In 1991 Croatia and Slovenia, which at that time were republics within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, declared their independence. In that event, the Socialist Republic of Croatia was renamed the Republic of Croatia.

Despite the demilitarization of the old town early in the 1970s in an attempt to prevent it from ever becoming a casualty of war, following Croatia's independence in 1991, the Serbian-Montenegrin remains of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacked the city.

On October 1, 1991 Dubrovnik was attacked by the JNA with a siege of Dubrovnik that lasted for seven months. The heaviest artillery attack happened on December 6 with 19 people killed and 60 wounded. Total casualties in the conflict according to the Croatian Red Cross were 114 killed civilians, among them the celebrated poet Milan Milisić. In May 1992 the Croatian Army liberated Dubrovnik and its surroundings, but the danger of JNA sudden attacks lasted for another three years.

Following the end of the war, the damage caused by shelling of the Old Town was repaired. Adhering to UNESCO guidelines, repairs were performed in the original style. As of 2005, most damage had been repaired. The inflicted damage can be seen on a chart near the city gate, showing all artillery hits during the siege. ICTY indictments were issued for the JNA generals and officers involved in the bombing.

The final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts says:

"Due to the ideal observation capacity that the JNA enjoyed through its command of the high ground, the air, and the sea, it seems clear that (at best) the JNA was indifferent to the civilian casualties it caused or (at worst) it deliberately and systematically targeted civilians and civilian objects throughout this period."

General Pavle Strugar, who was coordinating the attack on the city, was sentenced to an eight year prison term by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for his role in the attack of the city.

The 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash killed everyone on a United States Air Force jet with VIP passengers.

Video of the attack on Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik today

Old City of Dubrovnik
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Old Harbour at Dubrovnik
CriteriaCultural: i, iii, iv
Reference95
Inscription1979 (3rd Session)
Extensions1994
Endangered1991-1998

Today Dubrovnik is a tranquil cultural and tourist centre hosting many musical, art and theater events year round. The annual Dubrovnik Summer Festival is a cultural event when keys of the city are given to artists who entertain Dubrovnik's population and their guests for entire month with live plays, concerts, and games.

Ivan Gundulić (Giovanni Gondola), a 17th century Croatian writer, predicted the downfall of the great Turkish Empire in his great poem Osman. He wrote these immortal verses that are performed on every opening of the world famous Dubrovnik Summer Festival:

O, beautiful liberty, dear and sweet,
Thou heavenly gift where riches all meet,
Actual source of our glory of these hours,
The sole adornment of this grove of ours,
All silver, all gold, and our lives so dear,
Cannot recompense thy beauty so clear.

With these verses Dubrovnik major invites actors and poems to enter through main gates inside city stone walls. As a young actor Goran Višnjić played Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. He was noticed and approved by the public at the very start of his career. The Dubrovnik Summer Festival has been awarded its first Gold International Trophy for Quality (2007) by the Editorial Office in collaboration with the Trade Leaders Club.

February 3 is the feast of Sveti Vlaho (Saint Blaise), who is the city's patron saint. Every year the city of Dubrovnik celebrates the holiday with Mass, parades, and festivities that last for several days.[5]

Dubrovnik and its surroundings with numerous islands have a lot to offer in touristic activities for younger generations. Also popular are climbing on steep hills, hiking through the Mediterranean nature, and swimming in the clean, transparent sea.

New historical discoveries say that the usual misconception of Dubrovnik coming to be as joining of Laus island and Slav settlement of Dubrovnik is disputed by the fact that there was no island of Laus, only a peninsula, and it seems that there was a port on its location dating back to ancient history (thought to be the lost port of Heraclea).[citation needed]

Heritage

The patron saint of the city is Sveti Vlaho (Saint Blaise), whose statues are seen around the city. He has an importance similar to that of St. Mark the Evangelist to Venice. The city's cathedral is named after Saint Blaise. The city boasts of many old buildings, such as the Arboretum Trsteno, the oldest arboretum in the world, dating back to before 1492. Also, the third oldest European pharmacy is located in the city, which dates back to 1317 (and is the only one still in operation today). It is located at Little Brothers church in Dubrovnik.[6]

In history, many Conversos (Marranos) were attracted to Dubrovnik, formerly a considerable seaport. In May, 1544, a ship landed there filled exclusively with Portuguese refugees, as Balthasar de Faria reported to King John. Another admirer of Dubrovnik, George Bernard Shaw, visited the city in 1929 and said: "If you want to see heaven on earth, come to Dubrovnik." This sentence is commonly used by tourist guides to describe the city.

In the bay of Dubrovnik is the 72-hectare wooded island of Lokrum, where according to legend, Richard the Lionheart was cast ashore after being shipwrecked in 1192. The island includes a fortress, botanical garden, monastery and naturist beach.

Dubrovnik has also been mentioned in popular film and theater. In the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Michael Caine, one of the characters said to have been dreaming of fairy from Dubrovnik (motive known from local legends and literature). In the film Rosemary's Baby, Roman Castevet, the leader of the witch coven, is falsely said to be in Dubrovnik, leading Rosemary to exclaim on his presence, "You're in Dubrovnik, I can't hear you." The 12th season of The Amazing Race, the remaining contestants went to the city of Dubrovnik.

Important monuments

Few of Dubrovnik's Renaissance buildings survived the earthquake of 1667 but fortunately enough remain to give an idea of the city's architectural heritage. [citation needed] The finest Renaissance highlight is the Sponza Palace which dates from the 16th century and is currently used to house the National Archives. The Rectors Palace is a Gothic-Renaissance structure that displays finely-carved capitals and an ornate staircase. It now houses a museum. The St Saviour Church is another fine remnant of the Renaissance period, next to the much-visited Franciscan Monastery. Over the entrance is a sculpture of the Pieta that dates from the late-Gothic period but the best part of the monastery is the Cloister with a colonnade of octagonal columns.

Dubrovnik's most beloved church is St Blaise's church, built in the 18th century in honor of Dubrovnik's patron saint. Dubrovnik's baroque Cathedral was built in the 18th century and houses an impressive Treasury with relics of Saint Blaise. The city's Dominican Monastery resembles a fortress on the outside but the interior contains an art museum and a Gothic-Romanesque church. [citation needed]

A striking feature of Dubrovnik is its walls that run 2km around the city. The walls run from four to six metres thick on the landward side but are much thinner on the seaward side. The system of turrets and towers were intended to protect the vulnerable city but now make one of the most picturesque sights in the Adriatic.[7]

Transport

Dubrovnik has an international airport of its own. The airport is located approximately 20km (12.5 mi) from Dubrovnik city center, near Čilipi. Buses connect the airport with the Dubrovnik bus station. In addition, a network of modern, local buses connects all Dubrovnik neighborhoods running frequently from dawn to midnight.

Education

Dubrovnik has a number of educational institutions. These include the University of Dubrovnik, a Nautical College, a Tourist College, a University Centre for Postgraduate Studies of the University of Zagreb, American College of Management and Technology, and an Institute of History of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Climate

The climate along the Dubrovnik Region is a typical Mediterranean one, with mild, rainy winters and hot and dry summers. However, it is perhaps more unique than other Mediterranean climates because of the unusual winds and frequency of thunderstorms. The Bora wind blows uncomfortably cold gusts down the Adriatic coast between October and April, and thundery conditions are common all the year round, even in summer, when they interrupt the warm, sunny days. The air temperatures can slightly vary, depending on the area or region. Typically, in July and August daytime maximum temperatures reach 29°C, and at night drop to around 21°C. More comfortable, perhaps, is the climate in Spring and Autumn when maximum temperatures are typically between 20°C and 28°C. During winter the coldest temperatures are recorded in the northern Adriatic with temperatures dropping sometimes below zero, while the southern regions of the Adriatic coast generally remain above zero, although this can change when the Bora wind blows.

Air temperature

  • average annual 16.4°C (61.5°F)
  • average of coldest period (January) 9 °C (48.2 °F)
  • average of warmest period (August) 24.9 °C (76.8 °F)

Sea temperature

  • average May – September: 17.9 °C - 23.8 °C (64.2 °F - 74.8 °F)

Salinity

  • approximately 38 ‰ (parts per thousand)

Precipitation

  • average annual: 1,020.8 mm
  • average annual rain days: 109.2

Sunshine

  • average annual: 2629 h
  • average daily hours: 7.2 h

Notable people from Dubrovnik

Sister cities

Images of Dubrovnik

Panorama

Panorama view on the Old Town of Dubrovnik
  • Walls of Dubrovnik
    Walls of Dubrovnik
  • Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Velika Gospa)
    Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Velika Gospa)
  • Massive walls
    Massive walls
  • Lovrijenac Tower
    Lovrijenac Tower
  • Onofrio's Fountain and the Church of Saint Saviour
    Onofrio's Fountain and the Church of Saint Saviour
  • The Orlando statue, symbol of a free city
    The Orlando statue, symbol of a free city
  • Church of St. Blasius by night
    Church of St. Blasius by night
  • Dubrovnik as seen from its wall
    Dubrovnik as seen from its wall

References

  1. ^ City of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik.hr. Accessed on July 2, 2007
  2. ^ Dubrovnik. History.com Encyclopedia. Accessed on July 2, 2007
  3. ^ http://books.google.cl/books?lr=&id=GOVJAAAAMAAJ&dq=dubrovnik+gondola&q=gondola&pgis=1
  4. ^ Nakon ulaska partizana u Dubrovnik u listopadu 1944.: Partizani pogubili hrvatske antifašiste | Izdvojeno | Glas Koncila
  5. ^ Dubrovnik news
  6. ^ Dubrovnik Online, monuments in Dubrovnik
  7. ^ Croatia Traveller, Dubrovnik

Further reading

  • Harris, Robin. Dubrovnik, A History. London: Saqi Books, 2003. ISBN 0-86356-332-5
  • Kremenjas-Danicic, Adriana (Editor-in-Chief): Roland's European Paths. Dubrovnik: Europski dom Dubrovnik, 2006. ISBN 953-95338-0-5
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