The Sponza Palace ( hr, Palača Sponza; it, Palazzo Sponza), also called Divona (from ''dogana'', customs), is a 16th-century palace in

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 Mediterran ...

, Croatia. Its name is derived from the Latin word "spongia", the spot where rainwater was collected. The rectangular building with an inner courtyard was built in a mixed

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

style between 1516 and 1522 by Paskoje Miličević Mihov. The

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

and sculptures were crafted by the brothers Andrijić and other stonecutters. The palace has served a variety of public functions, including as a customs office and

bonded warehouse A bonded warehouse, or bond, is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the ...

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

, armoury, treasury, bank and school. It became the cultural center of 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 = ...

with the establishment of the ''Academia dei Concordi'', a literary academy, in the 16th century. It survived the 1667 earthquake without damage. The palace's atrium served as a trading center and business meetingplace. An inscription on an arch testifies to this public function: :''Fallere nostra vetant et falli pondera. Meque pondero cum merces ponderat ipse deus.'' :"Our weights do not permit cheating. When I measure goods, God measures with me." The palace is now home to the Dubrovnik State Archive, which holds documents dating back to the 12th century, the earliest from 1022. These files, including more than 7000 volumes of manuscripts and about 100,000 individual manuscripts, were previously kept in the

Rector's palace George Rector 878-1947was a restaurateur, raconteur and food authority who wrote several cookbooks in the 1920s and '30s. He appeared on radio on the Columbia Broadcasting System in ''Dine with George Rector''Dubrovnik Summer Festival The Dubrovnik Summer Festival ( hr, Dubrovačke ljetne igre; is an annually-held summer festival instituted in 1950 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is held every year between 10 July and 25 August. On more than 70 open-air venues of Renaissance-Baroq ...

. Sponza Palace itself is also used as a performance venue. The palace's atrium is the basis of the "Sponza Atrium"

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...

model, created for a rendering contest and now a widely used reference model for

global illumination Global illumination (GI), or indirect illumination, is a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics that are meant to add more realistic lighting to 3D scenes. Such algorithms take into account not only the light that comes directly fro ...

rendering.

References

* {{Coord, 42.6411, N, 18.1106, E, source:wikidata, display=title 3D graphics models Houses completed in 1522 Buildings and structures in Dubrovnik Palaces in Croatia Gothic palaces 1522 establishments in Europe 16th-century establishments in Croatia Republic of Ragusa Tourist attractions in Dubrovnik Museums in Dubrovnik