Dubrovnik - referát

Old City of Dubrovnik

A History within the Walls

Introduction

Good afternoon, let me introduce myself, my name si Eliška Nejedlá. I study at Masaryk University Croatian language and literature. I prepared for you a presentation about the Old City of Dubrovnik. I am going to talk about the history of this town, about the walls which protect the town and also about its main characteristics. I have chosen this topic not only because it is my field of study but mainly because this is a beutiful historical town which everyone should visit and also learn a lot about the history of this country.

Outline

Now lets move on to the outline of my presentation.

I divided my presentation into 3 parts. First I‟d like to talk about some basic information about the city. Then we will talk about the City walls and about the history which is conected with this walls. Finally we are going to talk about another symbol of the town, about the main street in this town Placa-Stradun.

Basic information

So, let’s start with some basic information.

The original name of the city was Ragusa, sometimes called republic of saint Vlah. Who is also patron of the city. This tourist center of the Adriatic sea sometimes called „pearl of Adriatic“. The whole centre of Old town is ancient sight.

Considerable part of the city was damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it is now the focus of a major restoration programme co-ordinated by UNESCO.

Dubrovnik is a croatian port city in southern Dalmatia. Dubrovnik is separated from Croatia's main land by strip of land which belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There is a latin phrase on Dubrovniks flag „Libertas“ which means freedom. Above the entrance to the Lovrijenac fort was inscription : „Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro" which means Freedom is not to be sold for all the treasures in the world.

City walls

Now let’s move on to second part of my presentation City walls.

The Old Town Walls are probably one of the most prominent features of Dubrovnik. The walls surround the city and fortress that make up the “modern” Old Town. Before the 13th century the entirety of Old Town was divided into 2 settlements by a marsh. The situation changed and formed the Dubrovnik Republic, an ongoing dream until the French occupation in 19 century (1806-1808).

The old town walls are almost 2km long and were constructed between the 8th and 17th centuries. There are two mighty fortresses protecting the city, Revelin on the east and Lovrijenac on the west. The walls include 15 defense towers, the biggest one is Minčeta. There are two gates, Pile in the west side and Ploče in the east and a drawbridge. Entrance to the city walls can be found in several locations. The Walls provide one of the best views of Old Town. For adults the enterance to the fortress costs 100kn and for students or children 30kn.