Explore Dubrovnik

A circuit of stone walls about 1,940 metres long encloses Dubrovnik's old town, built mainly between the 13th and 17th centuries and up to 25 metres high. The walk along the top passes towers, bastions and the Minčeta and Bokar forts, with views over the old town's roofs and the sea.

The Church of St. Ignatius is the Baroque Jesuit church on Ruđer Bošković Square in Dubrovnik's Old Town, built from 1699 to 1725 to designs by Andrea Pozzo. Gaetano Garcia painted the apse frescoes of the saint's life, a Lourdes grotto was added in 1885, and the Jesuit Stairs by Pietro Passalacqua lead down to Gundulić Square.

The Stradun, also called Placa, is the main street of Dubrovnik's Old Town, a limestone-paved pedestrian street about 300 metres long between the Pile Gate and Luža Square. Laid over a channel filled in during the 13th century, it is lined with uniform houses rebuilt after the 1667 earthquake, with Onofrio's fountains and bell towers at both ends.

The Church of St Blaise, dedicated to Dubrovnik's patron saint, was built between 1706 and 1715 by the Venetian architect Marino Gropelli after a fire destroyed the 14th-century church. The domed Baroque building stands on Luža Square at the end of the Stradun, and its high altar holds a gilded silver statue of the saint.

The Franciscan Monastery near the Pile Gate was begun in 1317 and has a Romanesque cloister with paired columns and carved capitals. A pharmacy founded by the friars in 1317 still operates, and the monastery museum shows its old jars and instruments with books and church art. The church portal of 1498 survived the 1667 earthquake.

Dubrovnik Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was built in Baroque style between 1671 and 1713 after the earthquake of 1667 destroyed the Romanesque cathedral on the site. Inside are paintings by Titian and other Italian artists, and a treasury of reliquaries kept since the Middle Ages.

Sponza Palace was built between 1516 and 1522 by Paskoje Miličević in a mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles, with a loggia carved by the Andrijić brothers. It held the customs house, mint and treasury of the Republic of Ragusa and survived the 1667 earthquake. It now houses the Dubrovnik State Archives around an arcaded courtyard.

The Rector's Palace was the seat of the rector and government of the Republic of Ragusa until 1808. Rebuilt after a fire in 1435 to plans by Onofrio della Cava, it combines a Gothic building with a Renaissance portico. It now houses the Cultural History Museum, with period rooms, paintings and objects from the Republic's history.

The Dominican Monastery stands beside the Ploče Gate inside Dubrovnik's walls. Founded in 1225, its Gothic church of St Dominic was built from 1301 and consecrated in 1314, with a cloister and a 40-metre bell tower. The museum shows paintings of the Dubrovnik school, a Titian altarpiece, and manuscripts and incunabula from the library.

Fort Lovrijenac stands on a 37-metre rock outside Dubrovnik's western wall, guarding the approaches to the city by land and sea. First recorded in 1301, it has a triangular plan with three terraces and walls up to 12 metres thick. Its courtyard serves as a stage for plays during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

The Dubrovnik Cable Car runs from a lower station just north of the Old Town to the top of Mount Srđ, at 405 metres, in about four minutes. First opened in 1969, destroyed in the war of the early 1990s and rebuilt in 2010, it has two cabins for 30 passengers each; the upper station has terraces overlooking the walled town and the islands.

Lokrum is a wooded island about 600 metres off Dubrovnik, protected as a nature reserve and reached by boat from the Old Town harbour. A Benedictine abbey was founded here in 1023; Archduke Maximilian later had a residence and gardens laid out, and the island has a botanical garden from 1959, peacocks and Fort Royal on its 96-metre summit.