Stradun () or Placa (''Stradone'' or ''Corso'') is the main street of

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

, Croatia. The limestone-paved pedestrian street runs some 300 metres through the Old Town, the historic part of the city surrounded by the

Walls of Dubrovnik The Walls of Dubrovnik ( hr, Dubrovačke gradske zidine) are a series of defensive stone walls surrounding the city of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia."''...city's founding before the 7th century as a Byzantine castrum on a rocky island named Laus ...

. The site of the present-day street used to be a marshy channel which separated Ragusa from the forest settlement of Dubrava before it was reclaimed in the 13th century. Stradun stretches through the walled town in the east-west direction, connecting the western entrance called the "Pile Gate" (''Vrata od Pila'') to the "Ploče Gate" (''Vrata od Ploča'') on the eastern end. Both ends are also marked with 15th-century fountains (the so-called ''Large Onofrio's Fountain'' in the western section and the ''Small Onofrio's Fountain'' on the east end) and

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

s (the Dubrovnik Bell Tower to the east end and the bell tower attached to the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

monastery to the west). Stradun became the city's main thoroughfare in the 13th century, and its current appearance was for the most part created following the devastating 1667 earthquake in which most of the buildings in Ragusa (as Dubrovnik was then called) were destroyed. Before the earthquake the houses which line the street were not so uniformly designed as they appear today, with many of them featuring arcades and elaborate decorations. Following the 1667 earthquake and a large fire which broke out immediately afterwards, the

Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century , currency = ...

passed a law which specified the layout of all future residential buildings constructed in the city. Because of this all of the 17th-century houses lining the Stradun share the same pattern - the ground level always housed a shop with a street entrance featuring a door and a window in a single frame under a semicircular arch (during the day the door would be kept closed and goods would be handed to customers over the sill, thereby serving as a counter), and a storage room in the back with a separate alley entrance. The first floor was reserved for the living area and the second floor had various rooms, while the kitchen was invariably located in the

loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to larg ...

above the second floor, to prevent the spread of potential fires. In recent times, the Stradun and some of the surrounding houses were damaged in mortar shelling during the Siege of Dubrovnik in 1991–92, but most of the damage has since been repaired. Many of the historic buildings and monuments in Dubrovnik are situated along the Stradun, because of which it serves as a popular

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

for tourists. A procession for the Feast of Saint Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, passes through Stradun every year on 3 February. Occasional concerts are also held at Stradun and it is regularly used as the site of

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the December 31, last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly ...

celebrations. On 8 July 2010 Stradun was also site of a fund-raising exhibition tennis match played by

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after b ...

and John McEnroe in front of an audience of 600 and televised live in 10 countries.

Gallery

Stradun, Dubrovnik - September 2017.jpg, Stradun bustling during main season. Casco viejo de Dubrovnik, Croacia, 2014-04-13, DD 12.JPG, Stradun by night. Velika Onofrijeva česma.JPG, The Large Onofrio's Fountain.

References

{{coord, 42, 38, 29, N, 18, 06, 29, E, region:HR_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Dubrovnik Pedestrian malls Shopping districts and streets in Croatia Pedestrian infrastructure in Croatia

Gallery

See also

References