Dubrovnik and Dalmacija travel guide

Stradun and City Walls
There are few better ways
to begin your exploration of
Dubrovnik than a stroll down
the Stradun or a walk around
the city walls (see pp8–11).
Dominican Monastery
The Dominicans were
allowed into the city in the 14th
century, on condition that they
helped to protect its southern
entrance. The monastery
buildings that you
see today –
the large church,
cloisters and
museum – were
constructed from
scratch after the
original complex was more or
less flattened by the earthquake
of 1667. Highlights include the
Gothic cloisters, 14th-century
Italian painter Paolo Veneziano’s
Crucifixion (in the church), and
the museum, which houses an
11th-century Bible and a painting
by Titian, St Blaise, St Mary
Magdalene, the Angel Tobias and
the Purchaser – the man on his
knees in the latter is a member of
the then powerful Pui family,
who funded the work. Svetog
Dominika 4 Map K4 020 321 423
9am–6pm daily Adm charge
Crucifixion by Paolo Veneziano
Skull of St Blaize
Cathedral
Erected after the 1667
earthquake, today’s Baroque
cathedral (see p39), crafted by
Italian architects, replaced an
earlier Romanesque structure.
The cathedral houses a treasury
with a famous collection of more
than 200 reliquaries, including a
12th-century Byzantine case
containing the skull of the much
venerated St Blaise, and
casks containing his hands
and one of his legs. It
also displays what
is claimed to be a
fragment of the
cross on which Jesus
was crucified, and a
copy of Raphael’s
Virgin of the Chair reputed to
have been made by the grand
master himself. Kneza Damjana
Jude 1 Map J6 020 323 459 8am–
5:30pm, 5–7pm daily Free
Church of St Blaise
The original 14th-century
church survived the earthquake
largely intact, only to burn down
in a fire in 1706. Work started on
the present incarnation later the
same year, to plans by Italian
architect Marino Grapelli, who
based the design of the interior
on that of a Baroque church in his
home town. Punctuating the
ornate façade are four pillars
watched over by an array of
saints. The stained-glass windows
are another striking feature – a
late-20th-century addition of a
kind quite unusual in this part
of Europe (see pp11, 38).
Rector’s Palace
The position of Rector of
Dubrovnik was the ultimate jobshare;
each incumbent held it
for just one month. For that brief
period, the Rector’s Palace was
his home (see pp14–15).
Around Dubrovnik
59