DUBROVNIK CROATIA

Sail along the Peljesac Peninsula, past the lovely wooded Elaphite Islands to Dubrovnik, an ancient town surrounded by ramparts and fortresses. This treasure trove of architectural and cultural masterpieces, scrupulosly preserved over the centuries, is also on UNESCOs List of World Cultural Heritage. Sightseeing of the old city with a local guide will show you the citys highlights, such as churches, palaces, museums and squares.

The rich, permanent collection of the Dubrovnik Art Gallery is made up of paintings, sculptures and graphic art thet reflect the development of Croatian painting and artwork from 1880 up until the present. The Dubrovnik Art Gallery organizes independent exhibitions for Dubrovnik, Croatian, and foreign artists, as well as thematic exhibitions of modern painters. The Mediterranean biennal gathers modern European authors every two years, turning Dubrovnik into a European focal point for painting in these modern times, just as the artists of Dubrovniks well-known medieval school did so long ago. The Art Gallery in Ploce is located in the one-time summer residance of the shipowning family Banac, built in a neo-Gothic style. Dubrovnik has always been a source of inspiration for artists, acity of intensive artwork and numerous exhibitions by local and foreign artists. The exhibitions in Dubrovnik are located in various sections of the city - galleries, palace atriums, entrances, halls - only a temporary home for most of the artwork. There are a number of buildings in the heart of the Old Town of Dubronik that have been adapted to exhibition activities, such as the Sebastian Gallery located in St. Sebastian Church, Klarisa Gallery in the former Klarisa Monastery, and the Placa Gallery on the Stradun, or main street. The Gallery Ars Longa Vita Brevis is located nex to the Cathedral of Marys Ascension. Nearby is the Memorial ouse of Ron Brown, the American Trade Minister who died tragically, that exhibits a collection of paintings by three of the most famous Dubrovnik artists - Dulcic, Masle and Pulitika. Browsing through the streets, you will come acroos the galleries Talir, Homa and In Arta. If you climb up to Prijeko, take a look at the Studio Gallery. At the only side entrance to the city, at the top of Rudjer Boskovic Street, you will find the Alta Vista Gallery. the Gallery-Atelier Lucija, with its original ceramics, is located near the city walls in the area called Lazareti, previously used for quarantine purposes during the Dubrovnik Republic.

In 1872, the Institute of Dubrovnik Museums was founded by a decision made by the city authorities, one of the oldest museum institutions in Croatia. oday, the Dubrovnik Museums are a cohesion of five museums with different collections - archaeological, cultural-historical, ethnographical, maritime and modern art. The Cultural-Historical Museum is located in the Rectors Palace, a Gothic-Renaissance palace that was the rectors seat and that of the Dubrovnik government during the Dubrovnik Republic. The collection held in the Cultural-Historical Museum dates from the XIV to XIX century periods of Dubrovnik. Here we can find ancient Dubrovnik weapons and coins, and portraits of important people from these periods (Boskovic, Getaldic, Gradic, Gundulic, Cvijeta Zuzoric), including works by Dubrovnik and Italian painters. It is enchanting to see the living quarters of former rectors, furnished with original Venetian workmanship, silk dresses and uniforms belonging to rectors and councilmen, as well as other artifacts of the period.
The Maritime Museum - located in the Fort of Saint John that defends the entrance to the old city harbor, is a place that bears witness to the wealth of Dubrovniks maritime history - paintings of ships that were pledged by seamen, documents, ships inventory, tools, ship models from the Middle Ages.
The Ethnographic Museum - is located in a place where grain used to be stored in large holes. The Museum of Holes, whose collection exhibits traditional culture, national folklore costumes, ancient jewellery and lacework fabricated by the craftmen of old Dubrovnik, reveals the secrets of how people once lived, both lower and upper classes.
The Archaeological Museum - contains a collection of items dating from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. There are numerous exhibits and remnants of Middle Age churches, as well as a collection dating to ancient Egypt and Cyprus.

The Lazareti Art Workshop has an important and responsible role in the local community. It was therefore necessary, in accordance to an agreement with with city authorities, to define the LAWs position so that the good quality and precise work of the KARANTENA project could commence (the formation of a self-sustained cultural centre). The KARANTENA project gives the city significant cultural, social and tourist substance. Its modern, urbanly-profiled programme, liberal concept and recognizable model make the Lazareti one of the main outcomes of the citys communication with the world. The LAW has organized 160 exhibitions by foreign and local authors, about twenty international groups of concept exhibitions and multimedia happenings, more than 150 concerts, and seventy theatrical performances (several were LAW productions) since its foundation. During the last three years, LAW has also produced a new theatre and performance festival, and has organized numerous lectures, symposiums, video and film programmes.

The summers in Dubrovnik have been marked for over fifty years by the most significant cultural event in Croatia - the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. July 10th marks the opening of the festival with an evenings ceremony in which the Count of Dubrovnik presents the City Keys to the actors. The forty-five day event is filled with music, drama and huge audiences that revel in the gifts of the Muses in the unique stage-setting of the city of Dubrovnik. The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, throughout its rich history of musical and theatrical events, has involved performances by the most renowned musicians of the world and by the most publicly acclaime theatrical playwrighters and ensembles. The interior of the Old Town lends a special appeal to Dubrovniks festival, where one can experience musical, theatrical and artistic events. The cultural-historical sights of Dubrovnik, the Renaissance palaces and churches, the city squares and streets, the Rectors Palace, the Sponza - a former mint and customshouse, the summer residences of the Dubrovnik aristocracy - all combine to create a unique stage setting. The following personalities imparted a fraction of their artistic skills to Dubrovnik - the Croatian version of Athens: M. Horvat, K. Masur, Z. Mehta, L. Matacic..... the soloist H. Szerynga, C. Arau, S. Richter, M. Rostropovich, M. Caballe, G. Strehler, L. Ronconi, F. Zeffirelli.... the theater, ballet and opera houses, such as, The Old Vic Theatre London, The old Vic Theatre Bristol, The Prospect Theatre London, The Prague National Theatre, The New York La Mamma Theatre, The London Festival Ballet, Dresden, Moscow, Warsaw, Israel, Ljubljana and many, many others. William Shakespeares play of the tragic Danish prince - "Hamlet" is one of the most performed theatrical events of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Shakespeares "Hamlet" is tied permanently to the unique ambience of Fort Lovrijenac and has become virtually the Festivals trademark. There is a saying that Lovrijenac is only "on loan" to the characters of other famous dramatical plays, such as Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Richard the Third, Othello, and Don Juan. On Lovrijenac, Hamlet has been played by Derek Jacobi, Daniel Day Lewis, Rade Serbedzija and each summer, by Goran Visnjic. Besides such great Shakespearean plays as the "The Tempest", "A Midsummer Nights Dream", "Romeo and Juliet", "Coriolanus", and "Measure for Measure", the Dubrovnik Summer Festival also favors Eshile, Calderon de la Barca, Lope de Vega, Moliere, Goldoni, Goethe, Marlowe, Schaffer, and Stoppard.

Vocal music in Dubrovnik is expressed by two amateur choir groups. The older and larger group is the MIXED CHOIR "LIBERTAS", established in 1980. Entering its twenty-first year of successful activities, the choir has eighty members of various professions. The choir members like to say how they are an amateur choir that works professionally, for they have given two hundred and fifty performances over the years, working exclusively with an orchestra. During recent years, they have been showing a predisposition for "a capella" singing. This type of musical vocalness is the trademark of the younger DUBROVNIK CHOIR OF CHAMBER MUSIC. The quality and reaches of this young musical choir have earned it a permanent position in the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. It has also won a number of prestigious awards at choir contests. The top performances given by the forty, exceptionally young, choir members are proof of why they are so successful - they truly love vocal music. Their repertoire includes the works of old masters, as well as compositions by renowned Croatian and foreign composers of the 20th century.

The greatest wealth of the folklore ensemble "Linđo" lies in its three hundred members, young women and men that have joined the ensemble to nurture the tradition of Croatian national songs and dances. "Linđo" possesses a rich stock of as many as one thousand and five hundreds authentic national costumes. The liveliness of the young dancers is captivating as they attempt to demonstrate their countrys rich culture and folklore, dancing in priceless, elaborate costumes that are rich in color and ornaments. "Linđo" has toured twenty countries both in Europe and globally throughout its thirty five years of activities. It has won awards and recognition and has promoted Croatias cultural and touristic values. "Linđo" will continue to do so in future.

At the end of World War I, a group of high school graduates established "a society for the nourishment of classical music" that developed into the first symphonic orchestra of Dubrovnik - the Dubrovnik Philharmonic. The initial aid and support for the development of the Dubrovnik Philharmonic was extended by its first conductor, the Polish Tadeusz Sygietinski. The management of the Philharmonic was continued by Josip Vlach, while Vruticky systematized the orchestras work. The concerts became more frequent and beter through diligent work and effort. The Dubrovnik Philharmonic took a firm position in becoming inseparable from Dubrovniks public life. After World War II, the music was continued by twenty enthusiasts. The symphonic orchestra flourished in the 1950s, a time when the orchestra began to appear at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival as the only musical body. The Dubrovnik orchestra has changed conductors, musicians and soloist throughout its history, and has gradually gained more authority by the growing quality of its musical content. The Dubrovnik Symphonic Orchestra, as it is now called, gives weekly concerts in summer palace Crijevic-Pucic that is located close to the heart of the Old Town, surrounded by magnificient Renaissance park. The rich repertoire includes musical works of world renown. The Dubrovnik Symphonic Orchestra has had the honor of performing with such world-famous conductors as Zubin Meht, Kiril Kondrasin, Thomas Baldneer, Kurt Adler, Ernst Marzendorfer and with such soloist as Henryk Szeryng, Mstislava Rostropovic, David Ostraich, Montserrat Caballe, Ivo Pogorelic, and others. Age-wise, the ensemble has an ideal combination of both youth and experience. The majority of the musicians now playing in the Dubrovnik Symphonic Orchestra are from Dubrovnik. They are academy-educated musicians who erned their expertise at the Zagreb Academy of Music, while others continued their education at the wellknown musical academies of Moscow, Leningrad, Vienna and Paris. The Dubrovnik orchestra also includes musical artists from Poland, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is special experience to reside in Dubrovnik during holidays and Saint days when the main street, Stradun, vibrates with the sound of Dubrovniks Brass Band orchestra. This musical ensemble has been performing for over one hundred and sixty years. There are only a few cities in Europe that can boast of a musical band with such a long musical tradition. The historical development of such music in Dubrovnik was accompanied by a number of hardships, financial problems, as well as competitive ones. As a point of interest, we note that there were as many as five bands at the same time in Dubrovnik during a certain period after World War I. After World War II, a National Band was formed in Dubrovnik, a unique musical body that was active under this name until 1981. It was then renamed the Brass Band of Dubrovnik, a name it has retained up until today. In Dubrovnik, the tradition of playing in a Brass Band orchestra has been passed on from generation to generation in numerous families, whose members are active musicians in the "mužiki", as it is fondly called. The Dubrovnik Majorettes, a team of thity girls, have been performing alongside Dubrovniks Brass Band for the past few years.

We know that the first theatrical performances in Dubrovnik were held in the Renaissance period between the houses and streets of Dubrovnik, usually in the wide frontal area of the Rectors Palace. The old arsenal Orsan was the first closed theatrical area in Dubrovnik, from the end of the 17 century up until 1808. After the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic, the theatre was organized in the former city council area and was called the Rectors Theatre. It was used until 1817, at which time it was destroyed by fire. During Austrian rule, theatrical activities were conducted in the renovated house of Gucetic-gozze. The building that was financed by Luko Bundic-Bunda, and which houses todays Marin Drzic Theatre, was opened in 1865 with the formal presentation of Verdis opera "Ernani", performed by the Italian Compagnie Theatre up until World War II. The Marin Drzic Theatre has been a professional theatre since 1944. It received its name in commemoration of the 400 year-old death of the great Dubrovnik writer, Marin Drzic.

The enormous literary wealth that bears witness to the rich history of the former republic is stored in many libraries and in the Dubrovnik State Archives. The Franciscan Monastery, that houses one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe, is in possession of an imposing library containing more than seventy thousand volumes, three thousand manuscripts and 208 incunabulas. The Dominican Monastery also possesses a very wealthy library, and an archive containing valuable manuscripts, documents and books.
The Science Library of Dubrovnik - Dubrovniks wealth of books is once again available to the public, after having been hidden in basements during the devastating war years. The Science Library of Dubrovnik is one of the six largest libraries in Croatia, and according to its wealth of books, is inseparable from Europe. The total number of books and publications surpasses two hundred thousand, with a unique collection of 77 incunabulas and first editions, or books printed before the year 1500. The library has at its disposal a collection of manuscripts that date back from the 11th and 20th century. The Old Ragusina Collection was printed right before the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic in the XIX century. The New Ragusina collection has one thousand and three hundred volumes.
The Dubrovnik state Archives - The Dubrovnik State Archives are located in one of the most beautiful city palaces - the Sponza. The Sponza was a former mint. Today, it preserves the valuable documents that bear witness to the history of the Dubrovnik region - the rise and fall of the Dubrovnik Republic, maritime trade and economy of the city-state. The State Archives uses the wealth of written material to organize frequent suitable exhibitions - documents, geographical maps, land registry documents or seals - open to the general public.

"Only the imagination of skilled writer could have placed an island like Lokrum off a city like this one. When you set foot on Lokrum, you encroach upon a mystery. You can hear the white murmur of the whisper of all the lovers who have gazed at the stars from this very spot, hear the rustling of silks and the beating of wings, the sound of poems and the muttering of Latin prayers, as if you were hearing them now in the cloister of the Benedictine monastery. Lokrum is under a spell thet you cannot hope to undo." - Luko Paljetak

The first mention of Lokrum in writing came in 1023, in connection with the founding of the Benedictine abbey and monastery. According to legend. Richard the Lion-Heart was cast ashore here after being shipwrecked in 1192 while returning from the Crusades. The vow he made to built a church on the spot where he came ashore should he be saved was kept at least in part. Although he came ashore in Lokrum, at the request of the people of Dubrovnik, he agreed to have the church built in the city itself. In 1859 Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg, the then owner of the island, came to Lokrum. He had a mansion built in the shape of a tower and a marvellous garden laid out, criss-crossed with pathways. The very name of the island of Lokrum shows that even in ancient times there were plants from the far corners of the world growing here (Locrum comes from the Latin acrumen, sour fruit). The tradition of bringing in exotic plants and gardening that existed from the time of the Benedictines to that of Maximilian Ferdinand was countinued in 1959 with the foundation of the Botanical Garden. Most of the plant varieties derive from Australia and South America; of particular interest in the collection of eucalyptuses, cactuses and succulents. In 1964 the island of Lokrum was declared a Managed Nature Reserve, and in 1976 a special Forest Vegetation Reserve. There is a little lake on the island, linked with the open sea, and suitable for children and non-swimmers to bathe in. On the Lokrum hills there is fortress called Forte Royal, built in the shape of a star by the French in 1806; it gives marvellous views of Dubrovnik, Cavtat and the islands. From the port of Dubrovnik it is just a pleasant the minute voyage to Lokrum; an armis stretch away from the city, this favourite excursion spot is also set far back in the middle ages.

Also the name of St Blasius, patron of Dubrovnik: Vlaho, Bigio, Blaas, Blas, Blaze, Braz, Bras

The Venetians have St. Mark, and Dubrovnik has St. Blasius. The cult of this patron saint and martyr from Sebaste in Armenia has been alive in the tradition of the city since the 12th century, and was described by old chroniclers such as Rastic and Ranjina, as well as various anonymous sources. According to their story, St. Blasius supposedly saved Dubrovnik in the 10th century when the Venetian galleys dropped anchor in Gruz and near Lokrum under the pretext that they must renew their water supply before continuing their journey to the Levant. According to the legend, the people were friendly towards them, and the sly enemy availed himself of this opportunity to reconnoiter the city and its defense system, planning to attack it. They were thwarted in their plans, however, because St. Blasius revealed their pernicious plan to Stojko, parson of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Thanks to such timely forewarning Dubrovnik was saved! In order to acquaint themselves with the details of St. Blasius nocturnal visitation, the Senate summoned the minister, Stojko, who told them in great detail how St. Blasius appeared before him as an old man with a long beard and a bishop's mitre and staff