The territory of the famous Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa), though somehow disconnected from the main part of Croatia, was able to keep balance with great forces, which always had respect for its economic well being and culture, and it remained free due to its numerous diplomatic and economic relations. This earliest Croatian city-state had as many as 85 consulates in various seaports throughout the Mediterranean, and diplomatic representatives in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Paris and London. Dubrovnik was especially flourishing from the 15th to the 18th century, and was the chief rival to Venice. In the 16th century Dubrovnik had a fleet of 200 larger ships, which grew to 300 in the 18th century. Around 1780 the ships from Dubrovnik were sailed to New York, Baltimore etc.

The English word ARGOSY (= Ragusin ship; Ragusa = Dubrovnik) soon after the first Dubrovnik ships arrived in England in 1510, became synonymous with a large, rich cargo ship (Karaka of Dubrovnik).

It is strange that “The World Book Dictionary”, an important American dictionary of the English language, claims for “argosy” to be an “Italian (!) Ragusea (ship) of Ragusa, an Italian port (!) which traded extensively with England in the 1500’s”. See its 1995 edition, Vol. I, p. 110.

On the island of Sicily, Italy, there is a town called Ragusa. This town known from ancient times, was rebuilt by Dalmatian settlers in the VIIth century, who gave it the name of their native place (information from “Art and History of Sicily”, Casa Editriche Bonechi, Firenze, Italy, p. 110). A well known veduta by Matthäus Merian from 1638 (with numerous subsequent printings), does not represent Dubrovnik, but Sicilian Ragusa.

An Italian naval historian Bartolomeo Crescentio, author of “La Nautica Mediterranea”, 1602, Rome, states that the Ragusans were the best builders of galleons in the Mediterranean and that the Argosy was a galleon of Ragusa.

The Dubrovnik galleon Argosy is mentioned in two Shakespeare’s plays: “Merchant of Venice” and “Taming the Shrew”.

The white flag of Dubrovnik contains a figure of Sv. Vlaho (St. Blais, St. Blasius, Armenian martyr from 3/4 centuries), patron of the City. Also other flags were in use on Dubrovnik ships, like the one with significant inscription LIBERTAS, or

LI BER TAS

The famous Columbus crew in 1492 had at least two Ragusan mariners: Martin de Araguis, Pedro de Arague. The Ragusan name can be found in numerous places of the New World. Why? See Croatian mariners in the New World.

The earliest history of Dubrovnik goes back to Ancient times, at least to the 6th-5th centuries BC. In other words, the Grad (the City) is at least thousand years older than it was believed until recently, see [Nicetic]. This is confirmed by excavations carried out in 1980s and 1990s.

In the 12th century the famous Arabian geographer al-Edrisi (Idrisi) made a map of Europe containing Bilad Garuasia, that is, Croatia. In the accompaning text al-Edrisi mentions various cities in Croatia (Garuasia), among them Dubrovnik (Ragusa).

Photo by Najka Mirkovic, Dubrovnik

“Tractatus de Ecclesia”, written by Ivan Stojkovic de Corvatia (or Iohannes de Carvatia, also known as Jean de Raguse, 1390/95-1443), a professor at the University of Paris, was the first systematic tractate about the Church in the history of Catholic theology. Ivan Stojkovic also headed the delegation of the Council of Basel to Constantinople, aiming to negotiate the Ecumenical questions of the Eastern and Western Church. He wrote that he was from Dubrovnik, which was a Croatian city (de Ragusio quae civitas est in Charvatia).

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Literature written in Croatian flourished in Dubrovnik. In the first place we should mention Marin Drzic (1508-1567), who is one of the most outstanding names of the European Renaissance literature, a predecessor to Moliére’s comedy and Shakespeare’s drama (Moliére 1622-1673, Shakespeare 1564-1616). It was observed long ago that Marin Drzic handled themes and motifs that appeared 50 years later in the works of Shakespeare.

A few of Drzic’s books printed in Venice in Croatian language have been discovered in Milano (MI0185 Biblioteca nazionale Braidense – Milano):

• Tirena comedia Marina Darxichia prikasana u Dubrouniku godiscta 1548. ukoioi ulasi Boi na nacin od morescke; i tanaz Na nacin pastirschi. In Vinegia (Venice): al segno del Pozzo 1547. [Andrea Arrivabene], 1551.
• Piesni Marina, Darxichia viedno staugliene s mnosim drusim liepim stuarmi. [Venezia : Niccolò Bascarini], 1551.

Also Shakespeare’s The Tempest has its source in the old Croatian chronicle from the 12th century, known as the Chronicle of Father Dukljanin. Its Italian translation was published in 1601, a decade before The Tempest was composed (see [Mardesic], p. 151).

The importance of Drzic as a playwright for Croatians is analogous to that of Shakespeare for the English, Moliére for the French, and Goldoni for the Italians. Note that Shakespeare was three years old when Drzic died. Drzic’s plays were translated into Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finish, French, Italian, Japanese, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovakian, Swahili, Swedish, Ukrainean, and some other languages.

Ivan Gundulic (1589-1638). Note his cravat around his neck. This is the earliest known usage of cravat in history (1622). Lous XIV was born in the year when Gundulic died.

One of the greatest Croatian poets was Ivan Gundulic (1589-1638), who wrote the well known and endeared patriotic verses in Croatian language:

Oh beautiful, oh dear, oh sweet liberty, the gift that Almighty God gave us, the cause of truth and all our glory, the only adornment of Dubrava; Neither all the silver and gold, nor the human lives can match your pure beauty!

The word LIBERTAS is written on the flag of the famous city of Dubrovnik and its freedom loving people.

• In 1272 Dubrovnik had its first statute (in eight books) and urban planning.
  
• The seventh book of the Statute contains exclusively regulations concerning Maritime Law, which is the oldest such document in the world. Among other things, the statute says If a slave is embarked on a Dubrovnik ship – he must be considered as a free man.
• In 1296 Dubrovnik had a sewerage.
• In 1377 Dubrovnik had the first quarantine in Europe.
• The first European pharmacy that has been working continuously till these days was opened there in 1317. Among the oldest ones (from 1355) is also the pharmacy of Zagreb, in which a great-grandson of Dante (Nicolo Alighieri) was a pharmacist in 1399. According to some documents the pharmacy in the city of Trogir goes back as early as 1271.
• Dubrovnik’s 1395 Insurance Law is the oldest in Europe. It had all aspects of contemporary maritime insurance. This law is three centuries older than Lloyd’s insurance, London, which dates from the end of 17th century.
• An organized production of soap started in 1417.
• The first hospital (Domus Christi) in Dubrovnik was opened in 1347. The Dubrovnik Senat recognized it as the hospital in 1540. It was shelled and seriously damaged during the Greater Serbian aggression in 1991-1995.
• Slave trade in the Republic of Dubrovnik was forbidden in 1416 (in the British Empire in 1833).
• The first canon foundry in Dubrovnik was started in 1410, that is, 62 years before Vienna and 64 years before Russia. The most famous canon and bell founder in Dubrovnik was Ivan Rabljanin (1470-1540), employed by the City on a full-time basis. Source Welcome to Dubrovnik, 2009, no 18, p 27.
• The first orphanage was founded in 1432.
• Dubrovnik had the oldest arboretum in Europe – Trsteno, founded in 1498, with many rare plants. It was seriously damaged during the Greater Serbian aggression in 1991-1995. Also precious forests around Dubrovnik were burnt down during the aggression, for example a large part of the imposing hill of Srdj above the City.

Luciano Pavarotti & Friends: Together for the Children of Bosnia (Modena, Italy, 1995), with participation of Croatian singer Nenad Bach, New York, with his tune Can We Go Higher?. Bono, singer from U2, recites the famous Gundulic’s verses O lijepa, o draga, o slatka slobodo from the 17th century in Croatian language (= Oh beautiful, oh dear, oh sweet liberty) in the song entitled Miss Sarajevo, sang by Pavarotti and Bono.


A famous platana in Trsteno near Dubrovnik, photo from 1930. The tree exists still today,
and it is the largest platana in Europe. Many thanks to Najka Mirkovic for the photo.

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Pilgrims to Dubrovnik:

• In a book by a German pilgrim Bernard von Breydenbach, published in 1485, one can read that Ragusa is in Sclavonia, which is a province of Croatian Kingdom (…civitate que Ragusiu vocatur in Schlavonia provincia regni Croacie).
• In 1486 a German pilgrim Konrad von Grünemberg wrote that Dubrovnik is the most important city in Croatian Kingdom (…die kunglich hobstat in Croattien), and that “it is surrounded with incredible strongholds which have no rival in the world”. Furthermore, the City is Archdiocese, and its jurisdiction encompasses the whole Croatian Kingdom. “…It recognizes the sovereignty of Hungarian king, but he is not able to defend it, since a mighty Turk occupied large portions of Croatia.”
• In 1497, a German pilgrim Arnold von Harff wrote in his travel book a short list of 56 Croatian words, as he heard them when talking to citizens of Dubrovnik, with explanation in German. He also wrote that this city is situated in the Kingdom of Croatia (…item dese stat lijcht in dem koenynchrijch van Croattia).
• In 1506 an English Sir Richard Guylforde wrote that “Dubrovnik is in Sclavonia or Dalmatia, which is a province in Kingdom of Croatia.” See [Raukar], pp. 360-362, and especially

Edo Pivcevic: Grünemberg o hrvatskim gradovima, Hrvatska revija, Zagreb, No 2, 2005, pp. 14-22. (see also his description related to Zadar)

In his 1564 epistle Ivan Vidal from the island of Korcula praises Ragusan playwright Nikola Naljeskovic (1510-1587) as follows (see Franolic):

Oh, Nicholas, you are the honour we praise,
You are the glory and fame of the Croatian language,
An excellnet poet full of virtue.

The beauty of remains of numerous Croatian stone monuments with interlace ornaments found in Dubrovnik and its environs is truly amazing. For example, only in the church of St. Peter the Great (crkva sv. Petra Velikog), the remains of which are hidden under the floor of The Luka Sorkocevic Art School in Dubrovnik, about two hundred fragments with interlaced patterns were found! See [Early Medieval Sculpture in Durbovnik].

Some other Croatian monuments with interlace ornaments can be seen here, and also in Boka kotorska.

Very old and valuable is the Dubrovnik Missal from 12th century, now kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Written in Latin, in Beneventan script, it contains prayers and some chants unique in Europe. See [Menalo, pp. 34-35].

The Missal, written for the Dubrovnik Cathedral , is full of old Gregorian chants, containing more than 200 monodic meodies. For a long time it was believed to have been written in North Italy, until E.A. Lowe discovered that it was written in Dubrovnik. Miho Demoviæ proved that the Missal was written for the Dubrovnik Cathedral, [Demovic, Rasprave i prilozi, p 171-183]. It is interesting that as many as 430 monodic melodies are preserved in the Dubrovnik region from that time: 220 are kept in Dubrovnik missals, out of 720 known monodic melodies preserved in the whole of Croatia. Out of these 220 monodic melodies, 50 of them represent the Dubrovnik music particularities. In this way Dubrovnik became important European center for monodic music. Some of them according to Demoviæ represent the highest achievements of world heritage with respect to melodic beaty [Demovic, Rasprave i prilozi, p 177].

A pioneer of the Dubrovnik tourism is Gabriel de Armino, a musician from Rimini in Italy. Since 1458 he lived in the City of Dubrovnik as trumpeter. In 1461 he obtained permission from Veliko Vijece (City Council) to keep a hotel with five beds. The council stressed that such institution is very important since many foreigners visit the City. See [Demovic, Rasprave i prilozi, p 317].

The earliest known French-Flemish musician living in Dubrovnik was Gallus Piffarus. He was in the City since 1425. See [Demovic, Rasprave i prilozi, p 314].

Svuda ga jes puna slava, svud on slove hrvatskih ter kruna gradov se svih zove. Becuase it is known and praised everywhere it is called the crown of all Croatian cities. – Ivan Vidali, 1564, Zbornik stihova XV and XVI stoljeća (Anthology of poetry of the fifteenth and sixtennth centuries)

Cited from [Zlata Blazina Tomic & Vesna Blazina]

The first known opera in Croatia was performed in Dubrovnik in 1629, composed by Lambert Courtoys junior. His grandfather was a naturalized citizen of Dubrovnik, Lambert Courtoys senior from France. The opera was composed on the text Junije Palmotiæ’s (1606-1657) text Atalanta written in Croatian, which bore the subtitle Musica. Unfortunately, the scores are not preserved, but a document preserved in the Dubrovnik archives from that time proves that it was indeed an opera performed by 17 musicians. See [Demovic, Rasprave i prilozi, p 387].

Cvijeta Zuzoric (1552-1648), wrote her verses nad epigrams in Croatian and Italian. Known for her exceptional beauty, both physical and spiritual, verses were devoted to her by some of the best Ragusan and Italian poets, for example by Dinko Zlataric and Torquato Tasso. Torquato Tasso compared her verses to “rare pearls of unparalleled beauty”. Unfortunately, not a single one has survived.

The first mention of playing chess in Croatia dates from 14th century, more precisely, from 1385 in the city of Zadar. Thomas Hyde, an English orientalist from 17th century, travelled through Croatia, and mentioned that the correspondence chess had been played between Croatian and Venetian merchants in 1650, more precisely, beween the Dubrovnik and Venetian merchants. It is the oldest mention of the correspondence chess in history. This fact can be found in his book “De ludis orientalibus” (On Eastern Games), published in Latin in 1694. Information by the courtesy of dr. Zvonko Krecak, Croatian physicist and president of the Croatian Correspondence Chess Association.

Luka Sorkocevic (1734-1789), whose beautiful symphonies are performed throughout the world, lived in Dubrovnik (you are just listening to his Andante). His two sisters were the first women-composers in Croatia.

Here is a detail from the Dubrovnik polyptich by Lovro Dobricevic from 1466, representing an angel playing portative, a small portable organ.

Ivan Mane Jarnovic (1740-1804) was an outstanding Croatian violinist and composer of the 18th century, probably from Dubrovnik. He had a true European career – playing, composing and conducting in France (Paris), Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Scandinavian countries, England. Also played the first violin in the orchestra of the Russian empress Katarina II. Jarnovic composed about 50 chamber instrumental pieces, 22 violin concerts (17 preserved), and is known for having introduced the romanza as a slow movement into the structure of the violin concert. His life is described in a novel Jarnowick by G. Desnoisterres – Le Brisoys, Paris 1844, and in a collection Scènes de la vie d’artiste by P. Smith (Une leçon de Jarnovic, Paris, 1844).

Jelena Pucić-Sorkočević (1786-1865), who was born and died in Dubrovnik, was the first known Croatian women composer. Her compositions belong to early and middle Romantic era. Many thanks to Dr Miho Demovic for this information.

Jelena Pucić Sorkočević (1786-1865), the first Croatian woman composer.
Photo from www.geni.com.
More details about Jelena Pucić Sorkočević can be found in his monograph Miho Demović: Glazba i glazbenici na području bivše Dubrovačke Republike za vrijeme austrijske uprave 1814.-1918., Zagreb-Dubrovnik 2016.

Let us mention the name of Dobric Dobricevic (Boninus de Boninis de Ragusia), Ragusan born on the island of Lastovo, 1454-1528, who worked as a typographer in Venice, Verona, Brescia. His last years he spent as the dean of the Cathedral church in Treviso. His bilingual (Latin – Italian) editions of “Aesopus moralisatus, Dante’s “Cantica” and “Commedia del Divino” were printed first in Brescia in 1487, and then also in Lyon, France. We know of about 50 of his editions, the greatest number belonging to the period of 1483-1491 that he spent in Brescia – about 40. Croatia is in possession of 19 of his editions in 30 copies. The greatest number of his editions is in possession of the British Museum, London (22).

The first printed Croatian Cyrillic book was The Book of Hours (or the Dubrovnik breviary, or Oficje) published in Venice in 1512, prepared by Franjo Ratkovic from Dubrovnik. One copy is held in Paris in Bibliothèque Nationale. There is also another copy in the Codrington Library at All Souls College, Oxford (q.14.9); it was probably part of the founding bequest of Christopher Codrington in 1710. It is, admittedly, slightly less complete than the Paris copy, lacking 19 leaves. Many thanks to prof. Ralph Cleminson (University of Portsmouth, UK) for information about the Oxford copy.

Bonifacije Drkolica (known also as Darcoliza, Drakolica, Drkolicic, Ragusinus, Stjepovic etc.), born on the island of Lopud near Dubrovnik in the beginning of 16th century, started his career as a Franciscan and continued his study of philosophy in Paris. In Rome he met many famous persons, including the future pope Sixto V, whose roots are Croatian on his father’s side. Since 1550 he was appointed the apostolic guardian in Jerusalem, and apostolic vicar of the Holly Land, which meant that he was responsible for all Catholics on the Near East. With his diplomatic skills, having visited several times Constantinople and once Persia, he managed to renew all sanctuaries in Palestine. He renewed the basilica of St. Grave, and was the first after St. Hellena, mother of tsar Constantine, to enter and examine the St. Grave, about which he made a written report. Since 1561. he is apostolic visitator in Hungary, Poland and Russia. In 1564. he was appointed the Ston bishop (Ston is a lovely town near Dubrovnik). He was also in mission of Pope Pio IV in Russia at Tsar Ivan Grozny, and in Spain at King Phillip II. His book Liber de perenni cultu Terrae Sanctae (Venice 1573, 2nd edition in 1875) dedicated to pilgrims, is important for the study of situation in Palestine in his time. He also published his speech held at the Trident council, in the booklet Liber de ortu clerricorum in ecclesia (Venice, 1573). For more details see [Zoric].

Nikola Sorgoevic, a sea captain from Dubrovnik (born on the island of Sipan), wrote several books on navigation, shipbuilding, and tides, and three of them have been preserved. Two of them have been published in 1574 in Venice, soon after his death in 1573..

Didak Izaija Cohen, known under pseudonyms Dydacus Pyrrhus Lusitanus and Iacobus Flavius Eborensis, was a renowned Portuguese physician and poet of the Jewish origin. He lived in Dubrovnik from 1558 until his death in 1599, i.e. for more than 40 years. He devoted some of his verses to the beauty of Dubrovnik. Another famous Jew exiled from Portugal who found refuge in Dubrovnik (1556-1558) was Amatus Lusitanus (Juan Rodriguez), a leading European physician of the 16th century.

When Dominko Zlataric, a 16th century Croatian writer in Dubrovnik, translated Electra from the Greek original to Croatian (not via the Italian translation), he approximated the Hellenic spirit by Christianizing it, according to the measure and spirit of his own time. As he wrote himself, he made his Electra Croatian. He dedicated some of his translations into Croatian (“u hrvatski izlozene”) to Juraj Zrinski, son of the Sziget hero Nikola Subic Zrinski. Zlataric’s teacher and later a close friend was the above mentioned Dydacus Pyrrhus.

André Vaillant, a famous French specialist for Slavic languages, defended his thesis entitled La langue de Dominko Zlataric, poéte ragusain de la fin du XVIe siècle in 1926. That same year he published Les Piesni razlike de Zlataric.

Vice Bune (1559-1612), a Dubrovnik merchant born on the island of Lopud, diplomat and high state official of Spanish kings, for some time occupied the position of viceroy in Mexico. He had important diplomatic missions for the Dubrovnik Republic on the courts of Naples, Milano and Madrid.

The first cofee-house in England was opened in London in the 17th century by a native of Dubrovnik, a certain Pasque Rosee (probably distorted form of Raguseo).
In 1983 at North Stoneham, England (a few kilometers from Southampton), a stone slab was uncovered under a boarded floor near the choir stall in the Church of North Stoneham (6 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 8 inches). It contains emblems of St Mathew, St Luke, St Mark and St John. Carved around the edge of the stone is the inscription: “The Guild of the Slavonians (Croats) in the year 1491.” It is very probable that the stone was initially in Southampton in a chapel that belonged to the Guild of Croatian mariners there. One of the earliest Croatian mariners in Southampton is Blasius de Jar’ from Zadar, mentioned already in 1396, while in the 15th century there are many other Croatians in Venetian galleys: from Dubrovnik, Zadar, Split, Zagreb, Kotor, Budva, Bar. Moreover, according to collected data from that period we know that a great part of the staff in Venetian galleys was composed of the Croats. See [Eterovich], p. 21, and Lovorka Coralic: Hrvatska bratovstina u juznoj Engleskoj (XV.-XVI.st.), Marulic, 1998, No1, p.53-59.

Island of Lokrum near Dubrovnik

From description of St. Luke in the Acts of Apostles, chapters 27 and 28, we know that during St. Paul‘s journey from Caesarea to Rome there was a shipwreck on the island of Melita, in Adria (Adriatic Sea). At that time there were two islands on the Mediterranean bearing the name of Melita: today’s Malta, and the island of Mljet not far from Dubrovnik.There are many arguments that the shipwreck occurred on this island of Mljet, and not on Malta, see [Nicetic] (professor at the University of Dubrovnik, and experienced mariner). The journey from Crete to Malta would be impossible due to unfavorable winds and unfavorable sea currents.

Archeological excavations on Mljet have pointed to existence of Early Christian basilica which according to local tradition belonged to the Church of St. Paul. There are also other archeological findings on Mljet bearing Christian symbols of Syrian and Palestinian origin, dating from 5th to 6th centuries.

Ignjat Djurdjevic (Ignatio Georgio, 1675-1737), a Dubrovnik baroque writer, poet, and historian, issued a book D. Paulus Apostolus in mari, quod nunc Venetus sinus dicitur, naufragus, et Melitae Dalmatensis insulae post naufragium hospes, Venice, 1730, kept in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, containing a map indicating that St. Paul had the shipwreck in the Adriatic (Mare Adriaticum) on the island of Mljet (Melita).

A detail of gravure from Ignjat Djurdjevic’s book from 1730, indicating that St Paul had shipwreck in Mare Adriaticum (Adriatic Sea) near the island of Mljet.

A detail from the title page of Ignjat Djurdjevic indicating Melitae Dalmatensis Insulae (i.e. Dalmatian island of Mljet) as the place of St. Paul’s shipwreck, and not Malta which is in the Lybian Sea.

A sketch of St. Paul’s shipwreck near the island of Melita (Mljet) in the Adriatic Sea, not near Malta. Published by Ignjat Djurdjevic in 1730. Source of the photos is [Djurdjevic].

Also a well known Greek statesman and historian Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, 10th century, in his well known book On Administering the Empire, mentioned that it was the island of Mljet that St. Paul visited. See See [Demovic, Glazba u staroj hrvatskoj drzavi, pp 109].

• St Paul spent three months on the island of Mljet in Croatia
• Miho Demovic: Sveti Pavao bio na Mljetu i osnovao Pracrvku? Glas koncila, br. 16, 20. travnja 2008., p. 25.
• Ignjat Djurdjevic: Sveti Pavao apostol brodolomac, with foreword by Miho Demovic, Dubrovacka biskupija, Dubrovacke knjiznice, Opcina Mljet, Zagreb 2008. ISBN 978-953-97952-3-0 (see IKA)
• Miho Demovic (ed.): Brodolom sv. Pavla u vodama hrvatskog otoka Mljeta, Zbornik radova, Dubrovacka biskupija i Matica hrvatska Dubrovnik, Zagreb 2009

The Zupa Dubrovacka fragment (10th or 11th century), written in Croatian Glagolitic Script, has been found in Zupa dubrovacka near the city of Dubrovnik in 2006 (see [Zeravica]).

It is little known that there existed Old Dubrovnik (Stari grad Dubrovnik), which refers to a Bosnian town north of Sarajevo. It had existed also after the fall of Bosnia under the Turks in 1463 (nahija Dubrovnik). This town in Middle Bosnia was founded by merchants from the famous Dubrovnik. A 1288 muniment has been found (a part of Acta Croatica), written in the Glagolitic Script, which mentions Stipan from old Dubrovnik, the glagolitic bishop of Modrus in Lika, see [Modrus, p. 112]. It was found by Franjo Glavinic near Trsat in Rijeka. In 2003 the Old Dubrovnik was proclaimed the National monument in BiH. See also Pavao Andjelic: Stara bosanska zupa Vidogosca ili Vogosca [PDF], Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja BiH u Sarajevu, Arheologija, XXVI, 337-346.

Even today there is a town in the Kosovo region near Pristina, called Janjevo, whose citizens are old descendants of Dubrovnik merchants. They have uninterrupted, documented history of seven centuries. According to 1991 census there were still about 4,000 Croatian Catholics there, while after Greater Serbian policy of ethnical cleansing only 320 of them were left in very difficult conditions.

It is little known that there was the Society of Dalmatians in England already in 1590.
Personal information by Adam S. Eterovich.

It is interesting that the Dubrovnik merchants had their settlement in the city of Gvendolin in India in the 16th century, where they built the Church of St. Blase in 1653, which exists even today. In Goa in India there existed a strong Dubrovnik colony around the Church of St. Blase. In 1540 there arrived St. Francis Xaver on his mission to India, and later to Japan.

One of the most outstanding Dubrovnik mathematicians, physicists and astronomers of the 17th century was Stjepan Gradic (1613-1683), who was a Director of the Vatican Library. Some of his experimental results are cited by Jacob Bernoulli, and his tractate about navigation incited Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to discuss the problem of steering ships using helms. Gradic’s book Disserationes physisco-mathematicae quatour was published in Amsterdam in 1680. He died in Rome, where according to his last wish he was buried in the Croatian church of St. Jerome.

Gjuro Baglivi (born in Dubrovnik, of Armenian origin, 1668-1707) was a professor of anatomy and theoretical medicine in Rome (Sapienza) already at the age of 28, and the Pope’s physician. He developed a theory that living fibre was the anatomical and physiological element of all pathological processes (fibral pathology). He also had some essential discoveries in the fine structure of muscles. His collected works written in the Latin language had more than 20 editions, translated into Italian, French, German and English. Académie Française accepted him as “membre d’honneur”. Baglivi was also a member of the Royal Society in London and of the Accademia dell’Arcadia.

His Ragusan colleague Anselme Banduri (1675-1743) became a famous antique numismatist in Paris, and entered Académie des Inscriptions et Médailles.

Gjuro Dubrovcanin (Gjuro de Ragusa) published his “Epistolae Mathematicae” in Paris in 1680.

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The Rugusan poet Vladislav Mencetic (1600 – 1666), dedicating his verses Trublja slovinska (Ancona 1665) to the Croatian ban Petar Zrinski, expresses feeling full of patriotic sentiment:

Your people are crowned with fame,
A teeming Croatian multitude –
Under captivity’s wave long since
Would Italy have sunk
Had the Ottoman sea not broken
Upon Croatia’s beaches. (94)

The Franciscan Bernardin Pavlovic from Dubrovnik, born in Ston, had two works printed in Venice in 1747 “in the Croatian language.” The title of the second work runs as follows: Salves for the dying…new and revised edition printed in Croatian for the benefit of the Croatian nation, Venice, 1747. (95)

In Dubrovnik the Jesuit Peric, the Franciscan J. Gjurinic and the Croatized Frenchman Derivaux-Bruerovic call their language Croatian. The latter at the outset of the XIX century complains that some of the people of Dubrovnik forsake their “Croatian heritage” and are ashamed “to speak only Slavic” (slovinski). (96) This paragraph is taken from Mr Vicko Rendic web page, where you can find more information.

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In the 16th century, Dubrovnik had a very strong maritime activities, due to which, during a certain period, the City had a network of as many as 50 consulates throughout the Mediterranean, especially in Italy (36). See [Mitic 1973, p. 220]. For example, on the island of Sicily only, there were 8 consulates of the Dubrovnik Republic: Messina, Palermo, Siracusa, Terranuova (since 1927 renamed to Gela), Catania, Agrigento, Trapani, Millazo, and even on the nearby island of Lipari; see a map of the Dubrovnik consulates in [Mitic, just after p. 200].

In that period of the 16th century, Dubrovnik had 180 ships and 5000 mariners. By the end of the 18th century, Dubrovnik had 280 long-range ships (including long-range coastal ships); see [Mitic, pp. 15 and 19].

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The earliest known symphonic orchestra in Croatia has been founded in Dubrovnik 1755. The first organ with two manuals for the Korčula Cathedral has been built by Vicenzo Klišević in 1790s, who was organ builder in Dubrovnik. Information by the courtesy of Miho Demović (March 2017).

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The first known manual about book-keeping was Della mercatura e del mercante perfetto, (On merchantry and the perfect merchant) written in 1458 by Benko Kotruljic or Benedikt Kotruljevic (Benedictus de Cotrullis, born in Dubrovnik, 1416-1469). It is also the oldest known manuscript on double-entry. As such it precedes Luca Pacioli’s description of double-entry for no less than 36 years, so that Kotruljic’s priority is indisputable.

Kotruljic’s famous 1464 manuscript on book-keeping,
was printed in 1573 in Venice; editor and publisher was
another oustanding Croatian scholar – Franjo Petris

The French translation of Kotruljic’s book appeared under the title “Parfait négociant” in Lyon in 1613.

In the book he states the following: “I declare that a merchant must not only be a good writer,accountant and book-keeper, but he also has to be a man of letters and rhetorician.”

His another important manuscript is Benedictus de Cotrullis: “De Navigatione”, 1464, written also in Italian. It is the first known manual on navigation in the history of Europe. Note that it appeared almost 30 years before the discovery of America.

Benedictus de Cotrullis: De Navigatione, 1464;
photo from Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

The original manuscript is kept at the University of Yale (in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 557), and has 132 pp. See

• Benedikta Kotruljevica De navigatione, in Dubrovcanin Benedikt Kotruljevic : hrvatski i svjetski ekonomist XV. stoljeca. – Zagreb, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti : Hrvatski racunovoda, 1996. – ISBN 953-96998-0-0. – pp. 19-32.
• Benedikt Kotruljevic: De navigatione / O plovidbi, Zagreb 2005., ISBN 953-6310-37-6 (parallel Italian-Croatian edition)
• Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University (write in MS 557 and search; 20 pages of the book can be seen)
• Benedetto Cotrugli: De Navigatione, online book

In this book Kotruljevic mentions places like Bocari (Bakar), Braca (Brac), Dalmatia, Fiume (Rijeka), Illirico (Croatia), Mare Adriatico, and many other, throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. In Chapter XXXXVIII (ie. Ch XLVIII), he also mentions that in Popovo near Dubrovnik [near the village of Ravno in Eastern Herzegovina] there is a huge cave [Vjetrenica] with miraculous wind: at the entrance the air is colder in the summer than in Italy in the winter.

The name of the cave of Vjetrenica (wind cave; vjetar = wind) appears under this name for the first time in 1461 in the minutes of the Dubrovnik Senat. However, this famous cave was known already to Plinius the Elder (1st century AD), who mentioned it in his Natural History (Gaius Plinius Secundus: Naturalis Historiae, in 2, 115). This largest cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the nearby village of Ravno, deserve to be seen (25 km NW of Dubrovnik).

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Dubrovnik had maritime and trade contract with the port of Messina on the island of Sicily alreday in 1283. Also, Dubrovnik had the consulate in Messine for more than 400 years, from 1397 till 1808. In1588 Dubrovnik had greater traffic with Messina than France and Venice (measured in weight-tons of ships), in fact, almost as France and Venice taken together. Messina was the most important trade partner for Dubrovnik on the entire Mediterranean. 
See Ilija Mitic: Pomorsko – trgovacke veze Durbovnika sa lukom Messinom od kraja XIII do pocetka XIX stoljeca, Pomorski Zbornik, 22/1984, 549-556. 

Dubrovnik had consulates from Lisabon to Odessa on the Black Sea. In the 18th century Dubrovnik had as many as 80 consulates, which is more than Austria at that time (35), or France (40). 
From an interview with dr. Ilija Mitic published in Sonja Seferovic: Znanstveni rad koji je urodio dugogodisnjom suradnjom s njemackim sveucilistima,  Dubrovacki vijesnik, 24. veljace 2007., p. 51.

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It seems that Dubrovnik was in possession of Archimedes’ telescope, about which a testimony exists written in 1672 by Antun Sorgo (Sorkocevic, son of distinguished Dubrovnik composer Luka Sorkocevic), in his book “Origine et chute de l’ancienne Republique de Raguse”. Antun Sorgo was the last ambassador of the Dubrovnik Republic to France, where he spent 35 years. The Archimedes’ telescope seems to have been lost during the desastrous Dubrovnik earthquake in 1667. The basic idea of  Archimedes’ reflecting telescope (3rd ct. BC) seems to coincide with that of Newton’s reflecting telescope (Isaac Newton, 1642–1727).

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The greatest and most famous Croatian philosopher and scientist Rudjer Boskovic (Boscovich, 1711-1787), was born in Dubrovnik, where he was educated in the Jesuit Collegium. He was a member of the Royal Society of London, a member of St.Petersbug Academy, “membre correspondant” of the French Academie Royale des Sciences, a member of the Accademia dell’Arcadia, a professor at many European universities. Very delicate work on repairing the cupola of St. Peter’s church in the Vatican (diameter: 42m) was entrusted to R. Boskovic, a proof that he was a leading European authority for static computations and civil engineering of that time. Upon the request of Austrian Empress Maria Theresia, Boskovic was solving the problem of stability of Royal Library (now National Library) in Vienna.

Portrait of Boskovic by the English painter Edge Pine (London, 1760).

He was also the founder of the astronomical observatory in Brera near Milan. In 1773 a charter granted by Louis XV made him a French subject. Soon he was appointed by Louis XV to a very prestigious position and became the Director of Naval Optics of the French Navy in Paris (Optique Militaire de la Marine Royale de France). He left to his adoptive country an achromatic telescope and micrometer. Boskovic spent nine years in France, and became a good friend to many outstanding scientist, like the mathematician Clairaut, Lalande, Buffon. When D’Alembert took him for Italian, he hastened to correct him.

Boskovic stayed 7 months in England and met many famous scientists there: James Bradley (famous astronomer), George Parker (president of the Royal Academy), Samuel Johnson (Lexicographer), Edmund Burke (philosopher and political writer), Joshua Reynolds (the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts), and others. It is interesting that in England he designed a telescope filled with water in all its components, which was implemented at the Greenwich observatory in 1871, that is, 84 years after his death. He also met Benjmanin Franklin, who showed him some of his electrical experiments, see an article by Branko Franolic.

A detail from the Jesuit Collegium where R. Boskovic was educated,
17th century, representing coat of arms of
the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia,

Boskovic was also a brilliant Croatian Latinist poet. He wrote an extensive scientific epic De solis et lunae defectibus (On Solar and Lunar Eclipse) published in London in 1760. It contains 5570 Latin verses, and was dedicated to the Royal Society of England whose member he was. In the title one can read “Father r. Boskovic, of the Jesuit Order”, although at that time it was forbidden for Jesuits to live and work in England. The epic was written in the manner of Roman classics, in dactilus hexameter.

For more information see Latin as literary language among the Croats

When Charles Burney, a well known English musicologist, met Boskovic in Milan, he wrote: …if all Jesuits were like this father, who uses the higher science and the work of mind to advance science for the happiness of mankind, then it were to be wished that this society were as durable as is this world. Boskovic was buried in the church of S. Maria Podone in Milano.

French astronomer Joseph-Jerome de Lalande wrote the following lines in his book Voyage en Italie:

Le plus grand mathématicen que l’aie connu à Rome est M. Boscovich, alors jésuite: il est né à Raguse en 1711, mais il vint à Rome étant encore fort jeune, et après avoir longtemps professé les mathématiques au collège romain il fut fait professeur à Milan et ensuite à Pavie; mais l’on voyait avec peine des talents supérieurs comme les siens, concentrés dans cette derniére ville; non seulement il n’y a personne en Italie dont les ouvrages soient aussi célàbres dans toute l’Europe que les siens, mais je ne connais pas de géomètre plus spirituel et plus profond que lui. Sa mesure de la terre, son beau traité sur la loi de la pesanteur, ses découvertes sur la lumière et sur diverses parties de la physique, de l’astronomie, de la géométrie, son poème sur les éclipses, imprimé à Londres, à Venise et à Paris, peuvent doner une idée du nombre et de l’étendue de ses talents; mais il faut l’avoir connu particulérement, pour savoir combien il a de génie, combien son caractère est aimable, sa conversation intéressante, et ses idées sublimes dans tout les genres. En 1773, il a été appelé en France et naturalisé Français. Il est actuellement [1784] à Bassano, occupé à faire imprimer ses nouveaux ouvrages, en cinq volumes.

William Thompson-Kelvin, the English physicist (19/20 centuries), once expressed his opinion that his atomic theory is a pure “Boskovicianism.” Still earlier, Sir Humphry Davy, professor of physics and chemistry at the Royal Institution in London from 1802 till 1827, mentioned the name of Boskovic on several occasions in his Diary (Commonplace Book), accepting his atomistic theory. The diary is kept in the archives of the Royal Institution in London. Also a famous Irish mathematician and physicist R.W. Hamilton wrote extensively about Boskovic’s theory of forces.

With his theory of forces R. Boskovic was a forerunner of modern physics for almost two centuries. It was described in his most important book Theoria Philosophiae naturalis (Vienna 1758, Venice 1763, London 1922, American edition in 1966).

Werner Heisenberg (Nobel prize for physics in 1932) wrote the following:

Among scientists from the 18th century Boskovic occupies outstanding place as a theologian, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. His “Theoria philosophiae naturalis” announced hypotheses which were confirmed only in the course of last fifty years.

Indeed, see his graph of regions of attractive and repelling forces between material points (elementary particles), the closest region being repelling, tending to infinity (nuclear force!; see here; published in his Dissertationes de lumine pars secunda, 1748), and the farthest region is repelling, corresponding to gravitational force:

This graph was since 1763 called the Boskovic curve (curva Boscovichiana).

Rudjer Boskovic was the discoverer of the principle of determinisum, 56 earlier than P.S. Laplace. Moreover, Boscovich’s approach is more precise, complete and comprehensive than Laplace’s. See Boris Krzljak.

Robert Marsh, the author of Physics and Poets, credits Boskovic with the idea of FIELD. Faraday and others took the idea from him, see here. He was the first to apply probability to the theory of errors. Laplace and Gauss acknowledged their indebtedness to his work which led to the Legendre principle of least squares in statistics (stating that the best fitting line is the one with the smallest sum of squared residuals).

He was also very active in astronomy and diplomacy. A great many letters sent to his sister and two brothers written in Croatian witness that he did not neglect his mother tongue. So in one of his letters he wrote that in one of European cities he saw soldiers – “our Croats” (nase Hrvate).

He also wrote poetry. Most of his manuscripts are kept in the special Boskovic Archives in the Rare Books library in Berkeley, University of California, USA:

• altogether 180 items and including 66 scientific treatises, plus
• rich correspondence comprising over 2,000 letters, among others with D’Alambert, Lagrange, Laplace, Jacobi and Bernoulli; he had intense correspondence with his friend Voltaire.

A portrait of Boskovic, published in Milano in 1818 in a collection of famous
people living between 18th century the beginning of the 19th.
(many thanks to Dr Luca Leoni, Italy, for the photo)

Signature of Ruge Boscovich from one of his letters written in Croatian,
sent to his sister Anica. Source Roger Boscovich, the eighteenth-century polymath,
lecture of Ivica Martinovic at the Royal Society in London, 2013.

Some of his books, articles and letters, together with other documents, are kept in the famous Franciscan monastery (Samostan Male Brace) in Dubrovnik. Its library possesses 30,000 volumes, 22 incunabula, 1,500 valuable handwritten documents. It was severely damaged in the aggression in 1991/92 (shelled by the Serbian Army – 37 direct hits).

• Rugjer Boskovic, at Catholic Encyclopedia
• Branko Franolic: Scientists honoured by the Royal Society
• Nensi Brailo: LIBROCIDE: DESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES IN CROATIA, 1991-1995

The names of Rudjer Boskovic and Marin Getaldic (Ghetaldus) appear on an extensive list of the Chronology of Mathematics, where you can find additional biographical sources related to Boskovic held in the USA and UK.

One of the greatest English 20th century novelists Aldous Huxley, in Antic Hay (1923) mentions Boskovic, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Händel.

Rudjer Boskovic, Gelehrter und Diplomat, by Kresimir Veselic, Hagen, Germany

Rudjer Boskovic, numerous links

Cornelia Wright (1757-1837), an English writer, in her “Autobiography” left us important information about Raymund Kunic (Croatian latinist and grecist), whom she met in Rome. She also met Rugjer Boskovic in Paris, whom she admired as a “mathematician and astronomer and as a good Latin poet who like many of his countrymen had the gift of composing Latin verse with facility”. It is very likely due to her acquaintance with Kunic that the first translation of a Croatian poem into English arose (a poem by Ignjat Gjurgjevic, translated into English from its Latin translation).

Nikola Tesla (1956-1943) studying the Rudjer Boskovic’s monograph
Theoria Philosophiae naturalis.

Croatian writer Vojmil Rabadan wrote a poem Carmen Boscovichianum iliti Spomen mali velikom nam Rudi (on the occasion of 200 years since the death of  Ruđer Josip Bošković, SJ), Zagreb 1987. Inspired by this text, maestro Boris Papandopulo composed a cantata. Source Valentin Pozaić

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During the French occupation in 1808 the Republic of Dubrovnik was abolished, although the Senat refused such a decision with indignation. On the other hand, it is interesting to mention René Bruère Desrivaux (1736-1817), a French consul in Dubrovnik about 30 years earlier, who declared: j’aime les Ragusins comme les Francais. His son, born probably in Tours or Lyon, has been completely “ragusinated,” and became a ragusin poet – Marko Bruerovic (~1765-1823). In 1793 he was engaged for 4 years in diplomatic work in Bosnia (Travnik) as commercial attaché. He also helped Jewish merchants in Sarajevo. His wife was Katarina Hodic, a Bosnian Croat who gave him two children. See [Dolbeau], p 38.
The name of Katarina is very frequent among the Croats in central Bosnia. This is related to the last Bosnian Queen Katarina.

Antun Sorkocevic (Compte de Sorgo, 1775-1841), a good friend of Marko Bruerovic, was the last ambassador of his native Republic of Ragusa in France, where he spent 35 years. Author of numerous publications, he became member of Académie Celtique (1806), Société des Antiquaries (1828). Among other books he published “Mémoire sur la langue et les moeurs des peuples slaves”, “Fragments sur l’histoire et la littérature de la République de Raguse et sur la langue slave”, translated Ivan Gundulic’es Osman (Osman, poéme illyrien en vingt chants) in 1838.

Antonia Gertruda Pusic (1805-1883), outstanding Portuguese poetess and writer, is the daughter of Antun Pusic (Pushich) (1760-1838), the Croat from Dubrovnik, doctor of literature and science, officer of the Dubrovnik navy.

Arthur Evans, a well known English archaeologist, lived in the City from
1875 to 1882. He brought a valuable gift to Dubrovnik, the incunabula by
Croatian Latinist Juraj Dragisic, De natura angelica, Dubrovnik, 1498. This valuable book, kept in the Scientific Library, bears the following dedication: This book is presented as a historic relic of the City of Ragusa, and its civil library by Sir Arthur Evans, who here, like its author, first arriving through Bosnia, found a hospital retreat. On the ocasion of his revisiting Dubrovnik – after an interval of fifty years – June 18th, 1932.

The city of Dubrovnik endured a great many attacks in its history. Only during the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty (1168-1371) the Serbs performed 15 unsuccessful attempts to occupy Dubrovnik: in 1172, 1196, 1215, 1228, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1265-1268, 1275, 1301, 1302, 1317, 1318, 1325, 1328. The greatest tragedies in the history of Dubrovnik were the earthquake and the fire in 1667, and the well known Greater Serbian aggression in 1991/92. The population of the Dubrovnik region was 82.4% Croatian before the aggression, with only 6.7% Serbs.

The Dominican convent from 14th century is one of the most beautiful architectural masterpieces of the city. Very famous are paintings by Nikola Bozidarevic (16th century), especially the one in which Sv. Vlaho holds the model of the city in his hands.
During the French occupation of the City in the beginning of 19th century the convent served as a stable for horses!

The Dominican convent is in possession of a very nice work by Tizian (1489-1576), a famous Italian painter, representing St Mary Magdalen and St Vlaho (Blasius), patron of the City (with a model of the City in his hands).

The philosophical and medical works of Ibn-Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037) are a part of the rich collection of our oldest libraries. The Dominican Library, founded in 13th century in Dubrovnik, possesses one of the oldest Latin translations of Avicenna’s works on metaphysics and logic and a tractate of St. Thomas Aquinus – Concordantie super Physiceu (14th century). It was one of the biggest European libraries in the period between the 15th and the 17th century. Now it possesses 16,000 volumes, 240 incunabula and important archives (shelled by the Serbian army in 1991/92 – 25 direct hits). When Laurence Olivier visited Dubrovnik in 1970s, he performed William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the main role, in the ambience of the Fortress of Lovrijenac. After the performance, he said: “I never have seen such setting like St. Laurence council”. (Information by the courtesy of Mrs Franica Krampus, Dubrovnik.)

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), distinguished English composer, conductor and pianist, visited Dubrovnik for four consecutive years, since 1969.

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Barbarian rhapsody

(from the presentation by prof.dr. Enver Sehovic, University of Zagreb)

1991 Greter Serbian bombing and shelling of Dubrovnik

A missile shot in December 6 1991 to the convent of Minor Brothers in Dubrovnik. This convent only was hit with 50 (fifty) direct granade hits during the Serbain agression, causing a lots of damage on this top monument of Croatian culture. The hall hit by the granade is precisely the place where the oldest European pharmacy working continuously to these days was founded in 1317.

A result of Serbian and Montenegrin 1991-1995 aggression on Croatia:
a wounded church in the City of Dubrovnik. Subsequently renovated.

 To dr. Slobodan Lang – grateful Dubrovnikers

Dr. Kathleen V. Wilkes devoted her life to the victory of Croatia

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Bernard Shaw: Those who seek paradise on Earth should come to Dubrovnik and see Dubrovnik.

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The most famous street in Dubrovnik is the Stradun street (shelled in 1991 during Greater Serbian aggression):

Croatian Heroes: Pavo Urban defended Dubrovnik with his camera

The city state of Dubrovnik unanimously decreed that the Jews should have a permanent living quarter in the city. The Ghetto was formed in 1546. In the city there is a street called Zudioska ulica (Jewish street).

It is not widely known that Dubrovnik has the second oldest Jewish synagogue in Europe (shelled by the Serbian army in 1991/92). Here we would like to stress that only half a dozen of the 2000 Jews in Croatia have chosen to emigrate to Israel since the Greater-Serbian aggression began.

To be more precise, the Dubrovnik synagogue represents

• the oldest Sephardic synagogue in Europe, and
• the second oldest among Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues in Europe.

The oldest Jewish cemetery on the territory of former Yugoslavia was in the town of Cernik, near Nova Gradiska in Slavonia. The cemetery has been totally destroyed during the Greater-Serbian aggression in 1991.

When German Gestapo entered Dubrovnik in 1941, the annals (“Pinkes”) of the Jewish Sephardic community were confiscated. This represents irreparable loss for the Jewish and Croatian culture. The annals described the history of the community and the city itself over a very long period, starting with 1600.

Saving the famous Sarajevo Haggadah (Jewish Bible) from German Nazis in 1941.

The Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik hosted thousands of scholars from all over the world since its foundation in 1970. In 1991 it was completely destroyed during Greater Serbian aggression:

In a fire caused by missiles fired at the building disappeared the valuable library with collection of 25,000 volumes of books and 205 periodicals. See [Wounded Libraries in Croatia, p. 48]. See destroyed Dubrovnik roofs: roof1 and roof2.

Petar Perica (1881-1944) wrote verses for two sacral songs still extremely popular among the Croats: Do nebesa nek se ori (in 1900, at the age of 19) and Rajska Djevo (in 1904, at the age of 23). In 1901 he entered the Society of Jesus. Killed by communist partisans in 1944 on the islet of Daksa near Dubrovnik.

Stradun, central street in the city of Dubrovnik, in 2015. Source.

The Stradun street in 1991, during the Serbian and Montenegrin aggression on Croatia. Photo by Milo Kovač (1955-2005).

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According to Croatian historian dr. Vinicije B. Lupis, a very old sword of a Dubrovnik prince, as a symbol of the Dubrovnik statehood, is kept today in Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna, since the 1814 occupation of Dubrovnik. This and other relevant Dubrovnik insignia, kept in that museum and elsewhere, should be returned to the City. An initiative has been undertaken by Društvo prijatelja dubrovačke starine (Society of Friends of the Dubrovnik Antiquity).

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Mediterranean sounds
Croatia’s Mystic Voices

Klapa Lindjo

Nenad Bach Music
Graphic design by Andrej Urem

Nikola Primorac Croatian captain of City of Ragusa craft sailing from Liverpool to New York and back in 1870

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Pope John Paul II visited three times Croatia (1994, 1998, 2003) and Bosnia and Herzegovina twice (1997, 2003). During his apostolic visit to the city of Dubrovnik in 2003 he beatified Marija of the Jesus Crucified Petkovic (1892-1966), born on the island of Korcula, founder of Daughters of Mercy. For more information see marijapropetog.hr .

Daughters of Mercy M. Yusuf Abbasi As a swarm of snow flakes Swirling in the wind, A bevy of girls In uniforms white Spin about the aisles And bustle about in wards A bunch of busy bees Bearing no sting Sucking no nectar These fair daughters Of mercy are rent With work and fatigue In giving smiling hope To broken bodies And failing hearts.

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Recommended literature:

• Stjepan Ćosić, Nenad Vekarić: Dubrovačka vlastela između roda i države, Salamankezi i sorbonezi (Ragusan patriciate between kinship and state: the Salamankanists and Sorbonnists), HAZU, Zagreb – Dubrovnik, 2005., ISBN 953-154-660-6
• Stjepan Ćosić, Niko Kapetanić, Pero Ljubić, Nenad Vekarić: Hrvatska granica na Kleku, Dubrovnik: Županija Dubrovačko-Neretvanska, 1999, 110 str.
• Roger Boscovich, the eighteenth-century polymath, A public history of science lecture by Professor Ivica Martinovic
  Filmed at The Royal Society, London on Thu 19 Jan 2012
  
• Bruno Šišić: Vrtni prostori povijesnog predgrada Dubrovnika od Pila do Boninova (Gardens of the historical suburbs of Dubrovnik from Pile to Boninovo), HAZU, Zagreb – Dubrovnik, 2005., ISBN 953-154-565-0
• Robin Harris: Dubrovnik: A History, Saqi Books, 2003 (550 pp.)
• Croatian Heroes: Pavo Urban defended Dubrovnik with his camera
• [Hrvoje Kačić]
• Hrvoje Kačić‘s interview for AMAC (in Croatian): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Hrvoje Kačić: Dubrovnik and Calamities of War; Attempt to Deblockade Dubrovnik
• Hrvoje Kačić: “Dubrovačke žrtve“, Jugokomunistički teror na hrvatskom jugu 1944. i poratnim godinama (početak Bleiburga)
• Slobodan Lang et al.:  The Libertas diary
• Slobodan Lang: An overall civilan support
• [Alojzije Prosoli, The Voice from Dubrovnik]
• Kathy Wilkes
• Antun Ničetić: Nove spoznaje o postanku Dubrovnika, o njegovu brodarstvu i plovidbi Svetoga Pavla, Sveučilište u Dubrovniku, Dubrovnik, 2005., ISBN 953-7153-02-9
• Anica Kisić – Vinicije B. Lupis: Miho Pracat, o 400. obljetnici smrti.
  Matica hrvatska, Dubrovnik, 2007.
• Vinicije B. Lupis: O armensko-hrvatskim kontaktima
• Armenian and Croatian contacts described by Dr Vinicije B. Lupis
  
• Vinicije B. Lupis: Dubrovnik i Poljska : o kulturnim i političkim vezama hrvatskog juga i Poljske / Polska i Dubrownik O kulturalnych i politycznych zwiazkach poludniowej Chorwacij z Polska (Dubrovnik and Poland : about cultural and political relationships between Croatian south and Poland), Veleposlanstvo Republike Poljske, Zagreb 2005 (in Croatian and Polish)
• Vesna Miović:
  • Dubrovačka diplomacija u Istambulu, Dubrovnik-Zagreb, HAZU Zavod za povijesne znanosti, 2003.
  • The Jewish Ghetto in the Dubrovnik Republic (1546-1808), Dubrovnik-Zagreb, HAZU Zavod za povijesne znanosti, 2005.
  • Wisdom at the Crossroads: True Stories From the Time of the Republic of Dubrovnik and the Ottoman Empire, Dubrovnik: Udruga za promicanje multiklturalnih vrijedosti “Kartolina”, 2011.
    
• Zalta Blažina Tomić & Vesna Blažina: Expelling the Plague / The Health Office and the Implementation of Quarantine in Dubrovnik, 1377-1533, McGill Queen’s University Press, 2015
  
• Zlata Blažina Tomić: Kacamorti i kuga: utemeljenje i razvoj zdravstvene službe u Dubrovniku, Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, Posebna izdanja Monografije, knj. 27, Zagreb-Dubrovnik 2007.
• Zdenka Janeković-Römer: Okvir slobode. Dubrovačka vlastela između srednjovjekovlja i humanizma, Zagreb-Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 1999.
  
• Some photos are taken from the web page Dubrovnik, été 2003 with permission (photos by Gwendolyn Prakash – Notre conclusion sur cette ville : Si d’aventure un week-end vous ne savez quoi faire, prenez un aller/retour par avion et visitez la sans hésitaion, vous ne serez pas déçus !).
• Leksikon Ruđera Boškovića, Leksikografski zavod, Zagreb, 2011., ISBN 978-953-268-020-1
• Ston
• Artur Badasarov i Vinicije Lupis: Armenija – domovina sv. Vlaha, Matica Hrvatska iz Ston, 2014.
  
• Artur Bagdasarov and Vinicije Lupis promoting their joint book about Dubrovnik in Moscow on 14 June 2015
• Dubrovnik celebrating 1044 years of the Feast of St Blaise in 2016
  
• St Paul the Apostle spent three months on the island of Mljet in Croatia
• Dr. Milo Katić: Da li je Arhimedov dalekozor izgubljen u Du­brovniku? Novosti, Zagreb, br. 41, str. 19 od 11. II. 1940.
• Vesna Miović: The Jewish Ghetto in the Dubrovnik Republic (1546-1808), Zagreb – Dubrovnik, 2005.
  
• Nikica Talan: Antonia Pusich, Vida e obra, Zagreb – Dubrovnik 2006.
  
• Bruno Šišić: Dubrovnik Renaissance Gardens Genesis and Design Characteristics, Zagreb – Dubrovnik 2008.
• Marinko Maric: Stanovništvo Popova u Hercegovini: Ravno, HAZU, Zagreb – Dubrovnik 2015. ISBN 978-953-347-003-0
• Ilija Mitic: Konzulati i konzularna sluzba starog Dubrovnika, Historijski institut JAZU, Dubrovnik 1973.
  
• The Statute of Dubrovnik of 1272, 2nd edition, Dubrovnik 2015, ISBN 978-953-55146-3-3
• Slavica Stojan: Doživljaj velike trešnje u pisanim svjedoačnstvima dubrovačkih stradalnika. Hrvatska revija br. 2, Zagreb 2020, str. 17-22.
  
• Ivana Marija Vidović and Darko Žubrinić: Ragusa na Siciliji i njena veza s Dubrovnikom (Ragussa on Sicily and its connection with Dubrovnik), May 2020.