For a time, Dubrovnik was in the center of the Roman Empire and was safe from concerns of invasion. This allowed the port city to grow and thrive without the fortifications that would be necessary during the Middle Ages.
Below is a photo of a section of the interior medieval wall near the western gate. The wall was built using part of the aqueduct that was built by the Romans. Notice the portion of the wall where the stones are at an angle. The Adriatic Sea did not provide fresh water, but the aqueduct brought water from 18 km north of the city.
Cisterns, like the one below, connected to the aqueduct and provided fresh water to the people in the city. This cistern, called Onofrijeva fontana, was built in 1438.
Water conintuously runs from the pipes coming from the mouths of the lions. (Below)
The people living in the city during the Middle Ages feared that the aqueduct could be poisoned or cut off in the event of an invasion. So, they converted the water system to wells from below the city.
Ultimately, this worked out well for people at that time and protected the people again hundreds of years later. During the Homeland War (1991-1995), the city was under siege and water was cut off from the rest of the world for five months. The people were able to tap into the older system to provide drinking water and water they could use for toilets. This prevented disease, which could have been devastating to the city.
Our tour guide, Ivana (below), is an arachaeologist and expert on the city. She guides tours in the spring and summer because excavations are not permitted during the tourist season. She lived during the siege of the Homeland War and shared with us that she can live without her smartphone, but never wants to live without flushing toilets again! I will share more of her stories in the next posts.
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