Dubrovnik Things to Do Tips by canaglic

Fort Bokar was built after famous Renaissance architeckt Michellozi's plans, with a beautiful stone coronet round the top. The task of the fort was to defend the main entrance gate, the bridge and the moat at Pile. The fine inner rooms and open spaces of the fort are used as the stage for some of the perfomances of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

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Chatedral (7th, 12th & 18th century)
The present Dubrovnik cathedral was built according to plans by Italian architect Buffalini from Urbino, and was completed in 1713. It was erected on the ruins of the romanesgue cathedral heavily damaged by the great earthquake. The cathedral was reconstructed in 1986, but in 1981, before reconstruction began, archeologists made a sensational discovery which showed that in the lower strata of the building there were the remains of another, even more ancient and previously unknown cathedral dating from the seventh century.

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Fort Lovrijenac is another monumental and impressive fortress outside the city walls at the western side of the city. It rises proudly on a step sliff about 37 meters high, as if wrapped up in the legends about its origin, as well as those referring to the heroic deeds of its guards and defenders. It dominates the two approaches to the western part of the city, those from the sea and the land

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This small metropolos of Croatian tourism, this ancient city with its monumental city gates can ce entered only on foot, through its western Pile Gate or the eastern Ploče Gate; there are two further gates leading in from the old city harbour as well as the one opened in the 19th century to make communication with the northern suburb easier. The last gate mentioned is called the Buža Gate, or simply Buža ('buža' is a lokal word for 'hole'). For a very long time now the old city nucleus has been protected from all kinds of vehicle traffic, so the visitors can enjoy their walks along the city streets and squares without fear of being disturbed.

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The Minceta Fortress (14th & 15th century)
The Minceta Fortress, with the magnificent battlements, has been dominating the city for centuries. It was the symbol of the city's freedom and a defying challenge to all impudent fellows; today it is still one of the most beautiful symbols of the city. Minčeta was built by excellent architects. Nichifor Ranjina built the first, the smaller one, square-shaped, in 1319. Later on a new part has been added to it and thus it was given the present monumental round shape. This was done by the famous Renaissance architect, the Florentine Michellozzo Michellozzi, together with one of the greatest Croatian Renaissance architects and builders called Juraj Dalmatinac. The building of the tower was finally completed in 1464, on the basis of the plan made by Juraj Dalmatinac. One can get a wonderful view of the city and the whole of its surroundings from the heights of this impressive building.

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Revelin Fortress (16th century)
Revelin is a large fortress, an irregular square in a form, built outside the city walls in the eastern part of the city, into the Ploče Gata. It was built in the middle of the 16th century, at the time of the newly-risen Venetian danger threatening the Dubrovnik Republic. The building itself went on rapidly, all other public building-enterprises and most of the private ones were stopped in order to make the unhindered building of the fortress as quick as possible.

The construction was made after the design of the architect Anton Ferramollino, who was sent to Dubrovnik as a help by the Spanish admiral Doria, a great friend of the Republic. The monumental and impressive building, encompassed by the sea on one side and surrounded by a moat on the other three sides, was a dignified and impregnable guard of the Dubrovnik harbour. One of its corners entered the eastern city gate - Ploče, accomplishing a unique defense complex together with the gate, thus guarding the eastern approach to the city from the continental side.

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The famous Stradun of Dubrovnik, its real name being Placa, is the favourite promenade walk of all Dubrovnik citizens, young and old, as well as of all tourists coming from all over the world. No one will miss walking along the Stradun as he would be poorer for a memorable experience and contact with the city.
It was built after the great earthquake in 1667, while the city was being rebuilt in an intensified building-up programme. It was then that the street got its sedate and almost modest features, yet dignified and beautiful in the simplicity of this stone architecture. Before the earthquake Stradun was decorated by beautiful luxurious palaces. After the earthquake, in the destroyed city, the basic attempts were directed towards the continuation of life and the defense of the city. Consequently, all plans and projects were subject to these goals. All the houses along both sides of Placa were built after the earthquake according to the projects sanctioned by the Senate of the Republic. All of them have almost identical facades and the same height, with a very similar inner lay-out, and all of them had to have severl shops on the ground floor..

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St. John's Fortress (16th century)
St. John's Fortress was meant to be the main defense of the city harbour and one of the most important defense fortifications of the city. The first tower of the fort was built in this place in the first halh of the 14th century, and it is still one of the parts of the fortress. In the following few decades the fortress has been reinforced, parts have been addes to it, it has also been partly re-built, until it got its present semi-circular form in the 16th century and so became an impressively looking complex of buildings. Inside the ancient buildings we find the Maritime Museum and the Aquarium

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Orlando's Column (15th century) is certainly the most significant symbol of Dubrovnik's independence and freedom. The hoisting of the white flag bearing the insignia of St. Blasius on the column in 1419 marked the beginning of the golden period of Ragusan history. Its lowering in 1808, when Napoleon's army marched into the city, was the end of an entire era. Since 1990 Orlando's Column has been flying a white flag which bears one word known and understood by everyone, 'libertas'!

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Sponza Palace, the main commercial and financial centre of medieval Dubrovnik

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