• Accommodation
• Apartments
• Rooms
• Recommended

• Other Services
• Excursions
• Informations

• Dubrovnik video
• 

History of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was probably founded in the first half of the 7th century, upon the fall of the nearby Epidaurum during the avaro-slavic invasion on Dalmatia.The rock was probably inhabeted even before the arrival of refugees from Epidaurum and the newcomers only increased the number of inhabitants.The latest archeological excavations seem to corroborate this fact. From its establishment the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire.

During the Crusades it came under the sovereignty of Venice and by the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358 it became part of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom. Having been granted the entire self-government Dubrovnik started its life as a free state and reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries. During this period of independence of Dubrovnik the state administration was in hands of aristocracy; the administrative bodies were the Upper Council and the Lower Council and the Senate. The head of the state was the Duke, elected for a term of office of one month.

In the course of several centuries Dubrovnik grew into the most powerful economic centre on the eastern coast of Adriatic, trading both in the Orient and the Occident, developing a powerful fleet of merchant and war ships and maintaining diplomatic relations with a number of countries and cities.

Already in the 13th century Dubrovnik had its own statute, medical service was introduced in 1301; the first pharmacy was opened in 1317; the waterworks was constructed in 1436. In mid 16th century Dubrovnik had 4000 sailors. The Republic had passed laws forbidding sailors to sign on foreign ships. In the golden age of the Republic its material riches were based on widespread production and transfer of silver and lead from Bosnia and Serbia to the developed areas of Europe.

Commerce, sea trade and shipbuilding became the most important activities after the Turkish conquests of the Balkans.The shipbuilder of Dubrovnik were far known, so ships built in the manner of Dubrovnik meant durable, strong and simple construction.

Dubrovnik was an outstanding literary centre in the Renaissance; the centre of the local painting school in the 15th and the 16th centuries; the birth-place of several world-famous scientists, such as the physicists Marin Getaldić and Ruđer Bošković. Dubrovnik has maintained its important position in the Croatian culture until today.