Dubrovnik, A Port City

The original port of the city was located at the east entrance.  Today, the modern port is located to the west of the old city.

During the Middle Ages, the port (below) was extremely active and had its share of experience with the plague.  A policy of quarantine was established that required ships to wait in port for 40 days before entering the city.  Later, the buildings to the left were used to house those in quarantine, which continued until the 19th century to prevent such diseases as yellow fever.  Dubrovnik took advantage of inspecting cargo during quarantine, which allowed them to access information as well.

The building below was one of the few that survived the 1667 earthquake.  The details of the building provide insight into the style of those that were destroyed.

It was originally built in 1516 and used as a palace.  When they gained their independence from the Roman Empire, the Dubrovnik Republic used this building as a customs house (as it was conveniently located by the old port), the state mint (where they made their currency), a bank (for currency exchange for foreigners), a treasury (to hold the wealth of the city), and the armory (to store weapons and gun powder).  Today, this Gothic-Renaissance building is used as the National Archives.

In front of the Church of St. Blaise and in the center of the marketplace is a statue of Sir Orlando known as the Orlando Column.  Built is 1480, the statue was more than decorative.  In the Middle Ages there was no uniform standards of measure.  This made trade complicated because no two regions agreed how to measure goods.

In Dubrovnik, they used Orlando's elbow (approximately 51 cm) as the stand measure for goods sold in the marketplace.  At the foot of the statue, the length was laid out for anyone to use for reference.  If someone tried to cheat a buyer, it would be tested at the column.  If the merchant was found to be cheating his customers, one finger would be cut off for each inaccurate measure.  Customers could determine the reliability of the merchant based on the number of fingers he had!

While Dubrovnik maintained their independence throughout the Middle Ages, they were not able to stop Napoleon who conquered the city in 1808.  He did not destroy the city, but was looking for a place to house his soldiers as they began to move east.  As part of that plan, he built a fort on an island off the coast of the city that had been the home of  a Benedictine Monastery.

According to Ivana, this action cursed the island for anyone that owned it or slept the night on it.  Napoleon lost in the east and the city became part of Austria-Hungary and the island came to be owned by the Hapsburgs.  Those that know their history know that this was a very unlucky family and one member's death is marked as the start of World War I.  Today, no one owns the island and no one sleeps there.  It is a natural park.

Dubrovnik switched hands over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.  It was held by France, Austria, England, Russia, and Turkey.  During World War II, it was controlled by the fascists and became part of Yugoslavia.

During the Homeland War from 1991-1995, Dubrovnik spent five months under siege by Sebian and Montenegrin forces.  One of their most effective defenses was a fort that Napoleon built above the city further from the sea to keep watch on the people.  At the top of the photo below, the fort was able to defend the city and prevent any occupation by enemy forces.

This photo was taken from outside the western gate entrance.  The fort is at the very top of the mountain, in the center.