Old town of Dubrovnik
Coordinates: 42 ° 38 ' N , 18 ° 7' E
| Old town of Dubrovnik | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| National territory: |
 Croatia
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | (i) (iii) (iv) |
| Surface: | 96.7 ha |
| Buffer zone: | 1,188.6 ha |
| Reference No .: | 95th |
| UNESCO region : | Europe and North America |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1979 ( session 3 ) |
| Extension: | 1994, 2018 |
| Red list : | 1991-1998 |
The old town of Dubrovnik , the historic core of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik , formerly Ragusa or the Republic of Ragusa , known as an important sea power , is an imposing historical complex on the southern Dalmatian coast. The facility, also known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic”, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Croatia since 1979 . The old town of Dubrovnik is a unique medieval area of a walled city with numerous architectural monuments from the Middle Ages, Baroque and Renaissance times, which are in excellent condition today and form a self-contained architectural whole.
history
There have been settlements in the area of the city, including Illirian settlements such as various fortifications and fortresses since the third century BC. The city is founded around the year 614 (as Rausa or Ragusium), when Roman refugees settled in the city area; At that time, the city was part of the Byzantine interests . The first stone fortifications, including a barely preserved wall, were built at the end of the 8th century. A kind of construction plan for the city was only drawn up after the devastating fire of August 16, 1296, which caused severe damage to the city. The Stradun , the main street of the old town, was a canal in the marshland until 1272, which separated the settlement on the island of Lave or Lausa from the mainland and was filled in; Another reason for the expansion of the city and the fortifications were the experience from the 9th to 11th centuries, when Ragusa had to defend itself against foreign powers, as well as the hegemonic claims of Venice, which were partially recognized at least in the period from 1205 to 1358 which strengthened Ragusa's independence.
The new construction of the city from the early 13th century went hand in hand with the expansion of fortifications that were supposed to protect the city as well as its entrance gates and the port against external enemies. With only a few exceptions - mostly in the areas adjacent to the city wall - the streets are laid out at right angles. From the 13th and 14th centuries, the city was largely enclosed by the wall and essentially retained its appearance to the present day - if one disregards the numerous construction works to remove the great earthquake in April 1667 .
Old town
One of the most prominent points of the old town is the city wall of Dubrovnik with numerous fortresses, bastions, towers and other buildings, which surrounds the old town on all sides. Its circumference is 1940 meters, it is up to six meters thick and up to twenty-five meters high, partly built on high cliffs on the sea side, reinforced with further fortifications on the land side and equipped with three large fortresses integrated into the wall: Minčeta , Sveti Ivan and Bokar ; two other fortresses - Revelin and Lovrijenac - stand just outside the wall. The Pile Gate in the west and the Ploče Gate in the east are the two main entrances to the city. To the east, on the outside of the wall, is the old, well-protected city harbor of Dubrovnik .
Behind the gate bridges and the Pile gate, Stradun (also called Placa) begins , the large main street of the old town, which was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1667 according to plans and by order of the Senate of the Republic. At the western end of Stradun stands the Great Onofrio Fountain (Velika Onofrijeva fontana) with 16 gargoyles, built by Onofrio della Cava in 1438; to the north is the Church of the Redeemer (Sveti Spas), built in 1520 by the architect Andrijic according to a Senate resolution, next to the western wall the Franciscan monastery with the Franciscan church (Franjevacki samostan, Mala braca), a building complex, the construction of which began in 1317 and which is in the an important library with 20,000 valuable manuscripts and a museum are located. Here is also a medieval pharmacy, also from 1317, one of the oldest in Europe. On the other side, south of the Pile Gate, is the women's or nunnery of St. Clare (Samostan Sveta Klara), built at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries as a convent for the Order of the Poor Clares , which has been a station for the Poor Clares since 1434 Reception of abandoned and illegitimate children entertained - one of the first of its kind in the world.
On the eastern end of the promenade, around Luža Square, which is dominated by the 31-meter-high bell tower (Gradski zvonik) from 1444 (which contains a new bell cast in 1506 by the foundry Ivan Rabljanin ), there are other sights such as the 1463 Luža bell tower lodge built and reconstructed in 1952; Below it is a passage to one of the port gates, the fish market gate from 1381, or to the Ploče gate. On the northern edge is the splendid Sponza Palace, originally planned as a customs house and built in the 16th century, which today houses the important municipal archive (Povijesni arhiv) with more than 100,000 historical manuscript documents, deeds and protocols of the republic from the 11th century. Century is housed. In the middle of the square is a column with a relief of Roland (Orlandov stup) from 1418 by Antun Dubrovcanin ; According to legend, he was supposed to defend Dubrovnik from the Saracen pirate Spucente. Also created by Onofrio della Cava in collaboration with the Italian sculptor Pietro di Martino in 1438 is the Little Onofrio's Fountain (Mala Onofrijeva fontana) in front of the Gothic-style Hauptwache building from 1490, in which the admiral's apartment was located. Even further to the right of the bell tower is the town hall, which was built in 1882 on the site of the palace of the Great Council (Consilium Maius) built in the 14th century, burned down in 1816 and demolished in 1863. There used to be a direct passage to the Rector's Palace (Knežev Dvor) standing next to it, the administrative center of the Republic of Ragusa, from which the monthly elected rector ruled the city and where the Minor Council (Consilium Minus) and the Senate (Consilium Rogatorum) resided . The palace was built in the mid-15th century by Onofrio della Cava on the ruins of a fortress that was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion in 1435; In 1463, however, the new palace was damaged by another gunpowder explosion, after which it was restored by the Florentine builder Salvi di Michieli , only to be damaged again by the earthquake in 1667 and to have to be repeatedly repaired.
Other sacred buildings are scattered all over the old town. The church of the patron saint and patron saint of Dubrovnik, the Church of St. Blaise (Sveti Vlaho), a baroque building from 1715, built on the site of an older church also dedicated to this saint, is still in the southern area of Luža Square damaged during the 1667 earthquake and then by fire in 1706; the construction of 1715 was directed by the Venetian builder Marino Gropelli . The cathedral of Dubrovnik rises further towards the southern city wall (Katedrala Uznesenju Blažene Djevice Marije na nebo, or Velika Gospa for short); The evaluation of archaeological finds from 1979 has shown that a three-aisled cathedral, built in the 7th century or earlier, stood here, at a time when this part of the city was still on an island separated from the mainland by a sea channel; later a Romanesque basilica from the 12th to 14th centuries stood here, which, according to legend, was donated by Richard the Lionheart as thanks for his rescue in 1192 off the island of Lokrum; after it was destroyed in the earthquake in 1667, it was rebuilt between 1673 and 1713. To the south, just before the wall, is the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius (Sveti Ignacije), built by Andrea Pozzo (completed in 1725), with the monastery and college Collegium Ragusinum (Isusovački samostan). At the northeastern tip of the old town, in the direction of the Ploče district and practically bordering the Revelin fortress , lies the Dominican monastery (Dominikanski samostan), which was not originally located within the defensive walls. It already existed in 1225, but was not finished and set into the wall until the 14th century (there was a protective wall since 1310).
Within the city walls there are numerous other churches, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, also a synagogue and a mosque, as well as palaces, museums, galleries, libraries and other buildings.
World Heritage
The original area, which was included in the list of world cultural heritage as a cultural monument in 1979, consisted of the defensive structures, ie essentially of the city wall including the three integrated fortresses and the old city center enclosed by these with all its buildings and facilities. This list was later expanded to include a few more monuments: the district of Pile was added, which lies west of the Pile gate and housed many important manufacturers in the 15th century; furthermore, the fortress Lovrijenac from the 14th to 16th centuries in the west, which is located outside the city walls, as well as the also free-standing fortress Revelin from the 15th century in the northeast, the Lazareti quarantine facilities built east of Revelin at the beginning of the 17th century , from the Kaše breakwater in the port area from the late 15th century, and finally the island of Lokrum off the town , on which a Benedictine abbey has been located since 1023. The island of Lokrum makes up the largest part of the area with 72 ha, the mainland part is much smaller with 24.7 ha.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Encyclopedia Britannica: Dubrovnik
- ↑ a b c d UNESCO, World Heritage Center: Old City of Dubrovnik
- ↑ a b Tibor Živković, Historical review, vol. LIV, pp. 9–25, On the foundation of Ragusa ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Dubrovnik International University: The city walls ( Memento from February 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Thick walls: city fortifications & forts: Bokar, Ivan, Lovrijenak, Minceta, Revelin ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d Tourist Community of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County: The city center of Dubrovnik ( Memento of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Siti UNESCO dell'Adriatico: City Walls
- ↑ CroMaps: City walls and fortresses in Dubrovnik ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c Siti UNESCO dell'Adriatico: Old City of Dubrovnik (with further links to individual objects)
- ↑ a b c Porta Croatia: Dubrovnik. Sightseeing in Dubrovnik
- ↑ a b Dubrovnik information: Dubrovnik old town, Croatia - towers, bastions, bulwarks and wall towers ( Memento from September 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (with further links to individual objects)
- ↑ Croatian National Tourist Board: Dubrovnik - The old town of Dubrovnik (some with links to individual objects)
Web links
- Official Website of Dubrovnik (Croatian)
- UNESCO, World Heritage Center: World Heritage Site Old Town of Dubrovnik (English), lots of information and media data
- Dubrovnik City , an interactive map of the old town
- Porta Croatia , location of the sights
Heritage : Old Town of Dubrovnik (1979) | Historical complex of Split with Diocletian's Palace (1979) | Episcopal complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the old town of Poreč (1997) | Old town of Trogir (1997) | St. Jacob's Cathedral in Šibenik (2000) | Stari Grad Plain (2008) | Stećci - Medieval tombstones (2016) | Venetian Defense System of the 16th to 17th Centuries (2017)
Natural heritage : Plitvice Lakes National Park (1979) | Old beech forests and primeval beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains and other regions of Europe (2017)