MONUMENTS

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FRANCISCAN MONASTERY

address: Placa 2, phone: +385 20 321 410
open: 9 am -6 pm, entrance fee: 6 kn, children 4 kn

Franciscan Monastery is built in the transitional Romanesque-Gothic style. The construction started in 1337. In 1667 it was completely destroyed in the Great Earthquake. The door with Pieta at Stradun is the only thing left from the original church after it has been rebuilt. The Cluster of the Franciscan Monastery is considered to be a masterpiece of architecture in Dubrovnik. It was built in Romanesque-Gothic style by the famous Mihoje Brajkov from Bara. The capitals are a true example of Romanesque style, with bestiary motives bringing the spirit of Gothic as well.
Pieta at the church of Male brače - gothic sculpture done by Leonard and Petar Petrović (1498). The lofty interior of the monastery (reputed once to have had ceiling paintings by Titian) was reconstructed after the Great Earthquake of 1667.
The Old Pharmacy, located inside the Franciscan monastery, was opened in 1317. It is the third oldest pharmacy in Europe, but the only one still working. The inventories, ceramics, bowls, laboratory equipment and old medical books of the old Pharmacy are kept in the Franciscan Monastery Museum, among other highly valued and priceless objects of Dubrovnik's historic and cultural past.
The Franciscan monastery's library possesses 30,000 volumes, 22 incunabula, 1,500 valuable handwritten documents. The well-labeled exhibits include a 15th century silver-gilt cross and silver thurible, an 18th century crucifix from Jerusalem in mother-of-pearl on olive wood, an martyrology (1541) by Bemardin Gucetić (Gozze) and illuminated Psalters.
Among the pictures is one of Ruđer Bošković painted in London in 1760, and a painting showing the town before the earthquake. This painting is one of the very few ones that show the Old Town before the earthquake and is used to reconstruct and understand how Dubrovnik was build before the catastrophe in 1667.

St. SPAS CHURCH

St. Spas Church is located left to Pile Gate, the first church at the main street Stradun. The Andrijići brothers build the church between 1520 and 1528 by the Dubrovnik Senat's gratitude. The church has typically Dalmatian Renaissance wheel-window front and Gothic interiors. Inside the church there is a magnificent painting of the Ascension by Pietro Antonio da Urbino (1528).

STRADUN

The Old Town's main street is called STRADUN or PLACA. It is a, approximately 300 meter long, pedestrian zone and it runs from the Pile to Ploče gates, following the line of the channel that once divided the town into two parts.The street came into being in the 12th century, was paved in 1468 and reconstructed after the earthquake of 1667. The limestone pavement, polished by use, shines like glass after rain. The houses on each side, though preserving an ancient ground plan, also date from the 17th century, their elevation and style being uniform. Their shops mostly have the characteristic "na koljeno" combined door and counter. The "na koljeno" type consists of a door and window in a single frame spanned by a semicircular arch. The door was kept closed and goods handed over the sill, which served as a counter.

PILE GATE

At the entrance gate to the Old Town from the west there is a stone bridge within two Gothic arches, designed by Paskoje Miličević (1471). That bridge ends at another bridge, wooden drawbridge which used to be pulled up every evening. Above the bridges, over the arch, the statue of city patron St. Blaise (Sv. Vlaho) is set.

PLOČE GATE

Entrance gate to the Old Town from the East. Outer Gate of Ploče is built by Miho Hranjac in 1628, while wooden drawbridge and twin-spanned stone bridge (15th C) by Paskoje Miličević are similar to those at Pile Gate. Over the bridge there is the statue of St. Blaise, the patron of Dubrovnik.

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