Fortifications of Dubrovnik in Croatia - maritime Fortifications

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Situation

To the south of the city, the ramparts on the side of the sea, extend from strong Bokar in the west with the Saint John fortress in the south, and the Ravelin fortress on the side of the ground.

Visits

The goal of these ramparts was to help to defend the town of attacks since the sea, particularly those of the Republic of Venice, which one often regarded as a threat with the safety of Raguse.

The maritime ramparts, which are drawn up directly above rocks, are less thick than on the side of the grounds: these walls have from 1.5 to 5 meters thickness according to their site and their strategic importance.

The walls are punctuated rectangular turns, watch towers and drain-holes (there were 120 of them to protect the city from the attackers).

On the left, one goes along the oldest part of the city, with disordered architecture; one notes at which point the houses and the lanes are overlapping there in a tortuous maze, far from the geometry of the northern part. They is here, in what was a rock small island, that was founded the very first city, that which preceded the arrival by the Romans, which had already powerful ramparts at the 9th century.
Side of the sea, while looking over the balustrade, one sees the omnipresent statue of Saint Blaise, assembling the guard.

In the south, the small island of Lokrum takes shape.

The Puncjela Tower
The first tower which one meets, after the Door of Pile, is the Puncjela tower who offers a beautiful sight, on the right, on the St. Lawrence fortress. Its name of Puncjela comes from Italian “pulzelle”, virgins, because the tower is close to the monastery of clarisses Sainte Claire where the young girls of Raguse were educated. The construction of this rectangular tower was undertaken in 1305, but was not completed before 1350. In 1463, it was reinforced by the construction of a thick external wall and a lower curtain. In the upper part of the tower a small arched chapel is, memory of the old church Saint Blaise which was located at this place before the construction of this part of the ramparts.

The Kalarinja Tower
Located today below Strong Bokar, the Kalarinja tower owes its name with the first port of Raguse, the small Kalarinja port, which it protected.

Strong Bokar (Tvrđava Bokar)
The second fortification is strong Bokar (15th century) below located the Kalarinja Tower. One considers strong Bokar, often called the “Zvjezdan”, like an example among most beautiful of architecture of harmonious and functional fortification. Round and solid mass, with beautiful stone cornices, the strong one was built according to the plans of Michelozzo Di Bartolomeo between 1461 and 1570, while the walls were rebuilt (of 1461 to 1463). The strong one rests partly on a rock separate of the dry land, and connected to this one by vaults. The interior of the fort understands casemates for guns and a store of ammunition.

Strong Bokar constitutes one of the four strong points of the enclosure, with the Saint John fortress, the Ravelin fortress and the Minčeta fortress.

Located at the western end of the city, strong Bokar was intended, with the fortress Lawrence which faces him, with the defense of the Western entry strengthened of the city, the bridge and the ditch of the door of Pile.

As most of the ramparts, strong Bokar took its current aspect only after the earthquake of 1667. The various visible tables in the museums of the city give an idea of its former aspect.

Many guns of time are still preserved there. Today, its sumptuous spaces are used as decoration with the cultural event of the Festival of summer of Dubrovnik.

The Tower Saint Mary (Sveta Marija)

Bastions
One meets initially the bastion Mrtvo Zvono, follow-up of those of Holy Marguerite (Sveta Margarita), Saint Etienne (Sveti Stjepan) and Holy Saver (Sveti Spasitelj).

The Bastion of the Dead Bell (Tvrđava Mrtvo Zvono)
The first bastion which one meeting is the bastion Mrtvo Zvono, of the 16th century, also called bastion Saint Peter (Tvrđava Svetog Petra). The bastion of the Dead Bell owes its name with the bell of the close church Saint Lawrence, which sounded only for the funeral.

The Tower of the Star (Zvijezda)

The Bastion Holy Marguerite (Sveta Margarita)


The Bastion Saint Stephen (Sveti Stjepan)

The Bastion Saint Saviour (Sveti Spasitelj)

The Fortress Saint John (Tvrđava Sveti Ivan)
Contrary to the fortress of Ravelin, north of bay, the Saint John fortress, supported by the Tower Saint Luke, protected the old port in south-east against the enemy pirates and other boats coming from the sea. With the quays of unloading of the goods, the two doors leading in the city and the arcades under which one built the ships, the old port was indeed the most vulnerable part of the city, where, in addition, the ramparts were the least low.

For a nation of sailors, it was particularly vital to protect the port and the access to the shipyards. It is what explains the importance of the fortress Saint John and complexity of the device which opposite associates it with the Tower Saint Luke, and with the broad mole (which slowed down also the approach of the enemy and exposed it to the shooting of the guns). The Saint John fortress was the principal fortification of the defense of the port and one of the most important fortifications of the defense of the city.

The fortress Saint John, formerly called tower of the Mole (Tvrđava Mulo), was built in four stages between 1346 and 1557. The first tower was built on this site in the middle of the 14th century, and forms integral part of the fortress today - its contours are still visible in the western wall of the fortress. But the fortress was modified several times during 15th and 16th centuries, as one can see on the triptych painted by the painter Nikola Božidarević, visible with the Dominican monastery. During several decades, the fortress will be widened, raised, rebuilt, before marrying at the 16th century its current semicircular form and its monumental pace which the whole of its elements confers to him.

Always careful with the least sign of danger, the inhabitants of Raguse took the practice to close entirely the entry in the port the night with heavy chains tended between the Saint John fortress and the Kaše dam. Today the fort shelters three museums: the aquarium, an ethnographic museum and the maritime museum.

The maritime Museum (Pomorski muzej)
The museum of the Navy occupies the stages of the Saint John fortress; it is an ethnographic and maritime museum, in which four sections are devoted to the period of the Maritime Republic, at the Age of the Vapor, the Second World War and the techniques of sailing. On the first floor, the bottom explains the history and the size of the navy of the Republic of Raguse, explaining the progressive colonization of the Adriatic coast, lasting Antiquity and the Middle Ages, until the apogee of the city, at the 16th century.
More attractive, the second stage presents the history of the merchant marine ragusaine to 19th and 20th century, through splendid models of the sailing ship last, of which those of galleons and galéasses, sailing boats and oars which made the fame of the fleet of Raguse, and also steamers and the first steamers of the fleet Austro-Hungarian of the 19th century.


One discovers the daily newspaper of the edge by means of usual objects, such of beautiful trunks of sailor out of painted wooden, a portable pharmacy of edge and a bunch of instruments of navigation.



Maritime museum (Pomorski muzej) Fortress Saint John (access by the lane vis-a-vis the cathedral). Visit from June to September, the every day of 9:00 to 18:00; in winter, from October to April, the every day except Sunday of 9:00 to 14:00 Paying entry: 35 kunas.
The Aquarium (Akvarij)
In addition to the species of the watery flora and fauna of the Adriatic Sea (sea-breams, bars, groupers…) divided into 34 aquariums, this space, located at the ground floor of the Saint John fortress, allows to discover its impressive vaults. At the ground floor of the fortress Saint John (access by Kneze Damjana Jude). The visit is carried out in a freshness of most appreciable in summer! Visit: from May to October, 9:00 at 19:00 (of 9:00 to 21:00 in summer); from November to April, 9:00 at 13:00 except Sunday and bank holidays. Paying entry: 35 kunas.
The Tower Saint Dominic

The Tower Saint Luke (Tvrđava Sveti Luka)
Other side, in the east, the port is protected by the Tower Saint Luke (Sveti Luka), one of the oldest towers of the city which are preserved, dating from the 13th century. Before the construction of the Kaše dam, the heavy chain which closed each evening the entry of the port was tended between the Saint John fortress and the Tower Saint Luke. After the Tower Saint Luke, the door of Ploče is, and, on the other side of the footbridge, the fortress of Ravelin.

Practical information

General information

Visiting times

Hotels

Restaurants
The Buža Coffee
The Buža coffee is a small coffee installed on the rocks outside the maritime ramparts. One reaches it since the street of Marguerite (Ulica od Margarite) behind the bastion Sainte Marguerite, via a hole (buža means “the hole”) in the fortifications of the city.