History

Recent History

To the casual observer, Dubrovnik has regained most of its original grandeur. The great town walls are once again intact, the gleaming marble streets are smoothly paved and famous monuments such as the 15th-century Onofrio Fountain and the Clock Tower have been lovingly restored. Damage to the Sponza Palace, the Rector's Palace, St Blaise's Church, the cathedral and various 17th-century residences has been repaired with the help of an international brigade of specially trained stoneworkers.

With the restoration work largely completed, architects have turned their attention to fortifying the structures to withstand the earthquakes that have periodically ripped through the region, most severely in 1667 when much of the old town was flattened. A milder quake that damaged 45 houses in September 1995 again reminded the inhabitants of the precariousness of their city. The original desire for total authenticity in materials and workmanship has been tempered by the need to reinforce the buildings and monuments in accordance with modern safety standards. Buildings and monuments are now being continually monitored for their structural integrity. Located in a zone that is seismic both geologically and politically, Dubrovnik's citizens have become more determined than ever to protect their fragile, wondrous town.

Modern Day History

Like Venice, Dubrovnik's fortunes now depend upon tourism. Stari Grad, the perfectly preserved old town, is unique with its marble-paved squares, steep cobbled streets, tall houses, convents, churches, palaces, fountains and museums, all cut from the same light-coloured stone. The intact city walls keep motorists at bay and Dubrovnik's renowned Summer Festival has re-established the city's position as a coastal cultural centre.

Caught in the cross hairs of the civil war that ravaged former Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik was bombarded by artillery in 1991 and 1992. When the smoke finally cleared in June 1992, the extent of the damage was severe. It was quickly decided that the repairs and reconstruction would be done with traditional techniques, using traditional materials whenever feasible.

One of the first and most urgent problems was repairing the city's tiled roofs in order to prevent water damage from rainfall. The rosy terracotta tiles that had topped all of Dubrovnik's buildings were originally produced in a tile factory in Kupari, south of Dubrovnik, that had long since closed. Replacements of the same colour proved impossible to find. The city first turned to Agen, France, and then Slovenia before finally settling on Bedekovčina in the Krapina River valley. Though the red and ochre colours of the new tiles blends badly with the more subdued shade of the old Kupari tiles, the older tiles are gradually being replaced, building by building.

The restorers faced a similar problem in finding a source of the fine white limestone used to build the city. The original stone came from nearby Vrnik, off the island of Korčula, but the quarries had since fallen into disuse and are only capable of producing small amounts of stone.

The island of Brač has a long tradition of stonemasonry and a ready supply of high-quality stone; even with this stone, though, restorers worried that the obvious differences in colour and texture would only magnify over time. The solution was to use the Brač stone in places that had already used the stone or where it would not be readily visible, such as in drainage gutters.

Pre 20th Century History

The story of Dubrovnik begins with the 7th-century onslaught of barbarians that wiped out the Roman city of Epidaurum (site of present day Cavtat). The residents fled to the safest place they could find, which was a rocky islet separated from the mainland by a narrow channel. Recent excavations reveal that the islet was probably inhabited at the time but the new settlers increased the population and named their new sanctuary Laus, Greek for 'rock'. Eventually it became known as Rausa, Ragusa and Ragusium. This inaccessible settlement was located around the southern walls of present-day Dubrovnik.

Building walls was a matter of pressing urgency at the time, when barbarian invasions were a constant threat; it appears that the city was well fortified by the 9th century when it resisted a Saracen siege for 15 months.

The town had help in the form of the powerful Byzantine Empire, under whose protection Ragusa remained from the 7th to the 12th century. Meanwhile, another settlement emerged on the mainland, stretching from Zaton in the north to Cavtat in the south. This settlement became known as Dubrovnik after the holm-oak (dubrava in Croatian) that carpeted the region. The two settlements merged in the 12th century, and the channel that separated them was paved over to become Placa.

By the end of the 12th century Dubrovnik had become an important trading centre on the coast, providing an important link between the Mediterranean and Balkan states. From the hinterlands, cattle and dairy products, wax, honey, timber, coal, silver, lead, copper and slaves were exported along with Dubrovnik products such as salt, cloth, wine, oil and fish.

As the city grew increasingly prosperous it posed a threat to the other major commercial interest in the Adriatic - Venice. Dubrovnik came under Venetian authority in 1205 and remained under its control for 150 years. Despite accepting governance from Venice, the city continued to establish its own independent commercial relations and finally broke away from Venetian control in 1358. Although the city thereafter acknowledged the authority of the Croatian-Hungarian kings and paid them tribute, it was largely left alone to do what it did best - make money.

By the 15th century 'Respublica Ragusina' - the Republic of Ragusa - had extended its borders to include the entire coastal belt from Ston to Cavtat, having previously acquired Lastovo Island, the Pelješac Peninsula and Mljet Island. It was now a force to be reckoned with. The city turned towards sea trade and established a fleet of its own ships which were dispatched to Egypt, Syria, Sicily, Spain, France and later Turkey. Through canny diplomacy the city maintained good relations with everyone - even the Ottoman Empire, to which Dubrovnik began paying tribute in the 16th century.

Centuries of peace and prosperity allowed art, science and literature to flourish. Marin Držić (1508-67) was a towering figure in Renaissance literature, best known for his comic play Dundo Maroje. Ivan Gundulić (1589-1639) was another Dubrovnik poet/ dramatist whose greatest work was the epic Osman. To the world of science, Dubrovnik gave Ruder Bošković (1711_87), who produced a seminal work in the field of theoretical physics as well as numerous tomes on optics, geography, trigonometry and astronomy. Composers, poets, philosophers and painters turned Dubrovnik into a major cultural centre on the Adriatic.

Tragically, most of Dubrovnik's Renaissance art and architecture were destroyed in the earthquake of 1667 which killed 5000 people and left the city in ruins. Only the Sponza Palace and the Rector's Palace survived to give an idea of what Renaissance Dubrovnik must have looked like. The city was rebuilt in a uniform baroque style with modest dwellings in rows and shops on the ground floor. The earthquake also marked the beginning of the economic decline of the town accentuated by the opening of new trade routes to the east and the emergence of rival naval powers in Western Europe.

The coup de grâce was dealt by Napoleon whose troops entered Dubrovnik in 1806 and announced the end of the republic. The Vienna Congress of 1815 ceded Dubrovnik to Austria: where the city maintained its shipping but succumbed to social disintegration. It remained a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918 and then slowly began to develop its tourist industry.