Finding Saint Blaise

Two arched stone bridges span the moat at Pile Gate, connecting the city to the land beyond. The inner bridge, built in fifteen thirty-seven, features a statue of Saint Blaise, the city's patron saint, tucked into a central niche. For…

Bokar Tower rises as a wide, rounded stone bastion projecting from the western stretch of the Dubrovnik city walls. Architects designed this fort during the late fifteenth century to protect the Pile Gate from invaders approaching by land.…

The Church of Our Lady of Carmel in the Ploče neighborhood is marked by a modest, rectangular stone facade and a bell gable that sits directly above its small arched entrance. Built in the early seventeenth century, this structure served…

The Saint Ivan Fortress features thick, curved stone walls that hug the sharp rocks of the harbor entrance. It functions as the southeastern anchor of Dubrovnik’s defensive system. In the sixteen hundreds, the Republic of Ragusa built a…

The Ponte Gate is a stone archway embedded directly into the harbor-facing walls of Dubrovnik. It serves as the primary land entrance for travelers arriving by sea. In the sixteenth century, the authorities insisted on strict quarantine…

The Church of Saint Blaise holds a gilded statue of the city’s patron saint above its altar, his hands cradling a model of Dubrovnik as it appeared before the great earthquake of sixteen sixty-seven. When a fire gutted the old medieval…

The Luka Tower is a stout stone cylinder punctuating the harbor wall of the old city of Dubrovnik. Built in the late fifteenth century, the tower served as the eastern gate to the harbor, controlling the movement of goods and sailors…

The stone arch of the Ploče Gate sits at the eastern entrance to the Old Town, identifiable by the heavy wooden bridge spanning the defensive moat. While the main western gate served traders, the Republic of Ragusa built this eastern…