Lovrijenac fortress
The Fortress Lovrijenac ( Croatian Tvrđava Lovrijenac ) from the 14th to 16th centuries in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik (formerly Ragusa or Republic of Ragusa ) is a mighty fortification on the edge of the old town of Dubrovnik on a high cliff that defends the city played a major role in the past.
history
The fortress was laid out in the west of the city outside the city wall in the 11th century . Some sources date this to the year 1018 or 1038, according to which the fortress should be built in just three months. However, the first mention of the structure appears only two centuries later (1301), when the commandant of the fortress was elected. According to reports, the fortress was built (in response to a project by Venice) on the very same spot where Venice wanted to build a fortress with hostile intentions. The Lovrijenac Fortress was supposed to protect the city of Dubrovnik against enemy attacks from both the sea and the land.
While the construction was taking shape in the 14th century, various reconstructions took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, in which the then master builder IK Zanchi from Pesaro was involved. Some repairs became necessary after the 1667 earthquake .
Equipment of the fortress
The fortress, nicknamed “Gibraltar of Dubrovnik” because of its triangular, pointed shape, was built on a 37 meter high rock in the west of the old town. The layout of the fortress corresponds to the shape of the rock. The widest area of the fortress wall faces the nearby fortress Bokar and was used to defend the small port of Kolorina. The height of the fortress is not uniform, so the interior consists of three terraces, all with parapets . Inside there is a square courtyard with large vaults.
The fortress had ten cannons, some of them large, and the crew consisted of 25 soldiers and the commander. The wall or the outer walls were up to twelve meters thick, but the side facing the old town was only 60 centimeters thick. A threat to the city was not only hostile attacks from outside, but also a possible mutiny by the fortress commander. The thin walls could then have been more easily destroyed with the cannon guns from Fort Bokar. For the same reason, the commandant was always elected from among the city's nobles and only for a month.
Trivia
On the archway of the main entrance to the fortress is the slogan Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditur Auro (German: “For no money in the world we sell our freedom”), which later became the motto of the city of Dubrovnik. The saying is sometimes attributed to the fortress builder or a Croatian poet, but is said to be based on a fable by Aesop .
The fortress was chosen as the stage for the Dubrovnik Summer Festival ( Dubrovačke ljetne igre ), which has been held there since the 1950s, because of its favorable architectural properties and overall atmospheric effect .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Fortress Lovrijenac - Dubrovnik , online at: www.dubrovnikcity.com / ...
- ↑ a b c Lovrijenac Fortress , online at: www.dubrovniksungardens.com / ...
- ↑ Old City of Dubrovnik , online at: whc.unesco.org / ...
- ↑ Lovrijenac Fortress in Dubrovnik Old Town - Mightiest Tower in Dubrovnik , online at: www.dubrovnik.li / ... ( Memento from September 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dubrovnik , online at: www.porta-croatia.de / ...
- ^ Fortress Lovrijenac - Dubrovnik / Dubrovnik - Did you Know? , online at: www.dubrovnikcity.com / ...
- ↑ Dubrovnik City Walls , online at: www.dubrovnik-guide.net
- ^ History. ... from the very beginnings ... , online at: www.dubrovnik-festival.hr/en / ...
Web links
Coordinates: 42 ° 38 ′ 27 ″ N , 18 ° 6 ′ 15.8 ″ E