Dubrovnik is famed for many things and certainly possesses a million incredible and unique attributes that are worth shouting about (and we do). Among the most glorified lies one that seems to slip into the huge shadow cast by the city’s equally impressive artistic and cultural scene – medicine.

While Croatia has been gaining popularity as a health/medical tourism destination on the global scene for several years now, that isn’t what we’re referring to here either. Did you know that Dubrovnik, among all of its other invaluable qualities, boasts the oldest still working pharmacy in Europe? Meet the ancient Dubrovnik pharmacy.

In amongst the stunning architecture, indescribable ambience and unique historical story, lies the beautiful yet otherwise unassuming Old Pharmacy (Ljekarnica Male Braće), which was first established by the Franciscan monastery of the Friar’s Minor 700 years ago. This pharmacy has been in working operation since the year 1317, making it stand out as one of the most unique places of interest in the world. Dubrovnik has been in the vanguard of healthcare and social welfare throughout history, and the ancient Dubrovnik pharmacy is a firm testament to that.

While human rights didn’t really exist in ”more civilised” nations, the Dubrovnik Republic banned slavery. While wealthy, powerful countries forced others to submit with acts of violence and invasion, the Dubrovnik Republic used diplomacy, civil talks and negotiations. While the typically considered ”better developed” countries of Western Europe freely allowed their sewage to run through the open streets and saw their populations suffer from horrendous (and often preventable) diseases and undergo some absolutely blood curdling operations only to prematurely die – Dubrovnik had cleaning running water and a safe sewage system, as well as various medicines that were way ahead of their time, many of which, particularly natural remedies, are still sworn by and are very much in use to this day. 

Given the utterly unique character of the city and indeed the former autonomous republic as it was, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the Pearl of the Adriatic boasts such an impressive pharmacy. Still, quite unbelievably, this isn’t actually as well known as it ought to be. As mentioned, the ancient Dubrovnik pharmacy still remains in function and has numerous medicines and pills and potions from days of olde still on display. Not your average place to pop in for some paracetamol to cure a lingering hangover, to say the least.

The ancient Dubrovnik pharmacy attracts a huge number of visitors and tourists (not just those with colds and headaches) every year. However, as previously mentioned, it somehow still doesn’t quite get the level of attention and praise it so deserves.

The post Meet The Ancient Dubrovnik Pharmacy – Founded in 1317 appeared first on Total Croatia.

Dubrovnik is famed for many things and certainly possesses a million incredible and unique attributes that are worth shouting about (and we do, click here for more on that topic), but among the most glorified lies one that seems to slip into the huge shadow cast by the city’s equally impressive artistic and cultural scene – medicine.

While Croatia is gaining popularity as a health/medical tourism destination on the world scene, boasting some of the most forward thinking dentists and doctors and some of the most affordable prices, that isn’t what we’re referring to here either. Did you know that Dubrovnik, among all of its other invaluable qualities, boasts the oldest still working pharmacy in Europe? 

In amongst the stunning architecture, indescribable ambience and unique historical story, lies the beautiful yet otherwise unassuming Old Pharmacy (Ljekarnica Male Braće), which was first established by the Franciscan monastery of the Friar’s Minor 700 years ago. This pharmacy has been in working operation since the year 1317, making it stand out as one of the most unique places of interest in the world. As Dubrovnik’s Mayor Mato Franković rightly pointed out – Dubrovnik has been in the vanguard of healthcare and social welfare throughout history.

While human rights didn’t really exist in ”more civilised” nations, the Dubrovnik Republic banned slavery. While wealthy, powerful countries forced others to submit with acts of violence and invasion, the Dubrovnik Republic used diplomacy, civil talks and negotiations. While the typically considered ”better developed” countries of Western Europe freely allowed their sewage to run through the open streets and saw their populations suffer from horrendous (and often preventable) diseases and undergo some absolutely blood curdling operations only to prematurely die – Dubrovnik had cleaning running water and a safe sewage system, as well as various medicines that were way ahead of their time, many of which, particularly natural remedies, are still sworn by and are very much in use to this day. 

Given the utterly unique character of the city and indeed the former autonomous republic as it was, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the Pearl of the Adriatic boasts such an impressive pharmacy. Still, quite unbelievably, this isn’t actually as well known as it ought to be. As mentioned, the pharmacy still works as normal today and has numerous medicines and pills and potions from days of olde still on display. Not your average place to pop in for some paracetamol to cure a lingering hangover, to say the least.

As HINA writes on the 11th of November, 2017, as Dubrovnik’s Old Pharmacy celebrates its 700th birthday, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek has made a welcome announcement that an initiative has been launched to see the Old Pharmacy finally included on Croatia’s national list of intangible cultural heritage. You’re probably surprised it isn’t already on there, because if anything in the country deserves to be at the very top – then this, the still living, breathing and fully functioning ancient pharmacy, which symbolises the true nature of Dubrovnik’s eternal early advancement in front of the rest of the world – is it.

Mato Franković stated that this anniversary is of great importance for pharmaceutical history in Croatia and the rest of the world. Adding the fact that the Old Pharmacy has been in operation since 1317 and is therefore unique on the global scale.

In attendance of the 700th anniversary celebrations were Dubrovnik-Neretva County’s long-standing Prefect Nikola Dobroslavić, numerous envoys, the health minister and other political figures, as well as Croatian and European Union representatives of various pharmaceutical societies. The International Pharmaceutical Federation also attended, as did the head of HAZU (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts), Zvonko Kusić.

The Old Pharmacy attracts a huge number of visitors and tourists (not just those with colds and headaches) every year, but, as previously mentioned, somehow still doesn’t quite get the level of attention and praise it so deserves. With its 700th birthday being marked and with the spotlight thrown on this historical gem, maybe now is the time for Dubrovnik’s more than impressive Old Pharmacy to finally be placed on the country’s list of intangible cultural heritage.

The post Art, History, Culture and… Medicine – Meet Dubrovnik’s 700 Year Old Pharmacy appeared first on Total Croatia.

A while ago, we introducted you to Daksa, an unassuming, tiny little islet that sits just off the mainland close to Babin Kuk in Dubrovnik. One of many islands, you might say, you might also be right – but it has a dark past.

While many, if not all of Croatia’s huge number of islands are adored purely for their skin-deep beauty and ability to dock boats near them, they often hide a great many secrets and not all of them are particularly pleasant ones. We’ve told you the story about Lokrum, one of Croatia’s most famous uninhabited islands that sits a mere 600m from Dubrovnik’s shoreline, and the extremely disturbing curse the island holds.

Whether or not you believe in such things, Lokrum’s unnerving story should be enough to open the eyes of even the most hardcore of sceptics. I challenge anyone to find a viable excuse as to why so many people lost their lives so suddenly and unexpectedly when attempting to purchase the beautiful emerald island which carries the eternal curse laid upon it by the scorned Benedictine monks all those generations ago.

Anyway, Lokrum is enough of an example to highlight the point I’m trying to make, back to Daksa, an islet even more unassuming than Lokrum, if you’re judging on looks alone, but lets take a deeper look.

The idyllic little islet of Daksa is the site of a brutal and unlawful massacre carried out by the Yugoslav Partisans in late 1944. As the then Independent State of Croatia began to crumble and the cracks in the Axis reign over various parts of Europe started to become more evident, the Partisans moved into Dubrovnik in October 1944, as the war still raged on.

As the war crimes facilitated by Germany gradually began to die down as the then National Socialist nation steadily began to lose its grip over the other Axis powers, crimes at the hands of the Allies began. An uncomfortable truth that not many like to face, particularly in Croatia where the two ”sides” are still very much at the top of heated debate, but facts are facts, and they remain as such regardless of our personal opinions on them.

As the Partisans entered the Pearl of the Adriatic, 300 citizens of Dubrovnik were immediately arrested, many of them were prominent figures in the city at the time, including various Catholic priests, and Niko Koprivica, the then mayor.

These people were accused and subsequently arrested for being ”Nazi sympathisers” or ”collaborators of the Ustaša regime” – generally without reason. A large number of these people were then summarily executed without trial or any possibility of defence on Daksa. Following the macarbe killings, disturbing leaflets were published and distributed in and around Dubrovnik by the Partisans containing the names of some of the lawlessly murdered people, accompanied by the words ”in the name of the people of Yugoslavia” in a wide-scale arttempt to threaten the local population.

Since this tragic event, for which (and it is worth mentioning) nobody ever faced justice, Daksa has carried with it an unusual atmosphere, and is almost like a sentence without a period. Unanswered, unaccounted for and the author of an incomplete story, Daksa now plays the role of the innocent, beautiful green islet to those swimming near Valamar Dubrovnik President.

Until 1990, it was forbidden to visit Daksa, and the victims of the bloodthirsty Yugoslav massacre were exhumed and given a proper burial in 2010. Eighteen bodies were identified, the identities of the others who had to die and then lie without dignity on the islet for so many years remain unknown.

Jump to the modern day (ish), and the private owners have been allegedly attempting to sell Daksa for four years now, with little success. As Dubrovacki Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of November, 2017, the last text published about this was from the German publication Travelbook, which praises the stunning beauty of the tiny islet but also states how Daksa has been on sale for a cool two million euros. The controversial former mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahušić, also had the idea of purchasing Daksa and giving it to the care of the Lokrum Reserve (Javna ustanova Rezervat Lokrum) with the aim to ”look after Daksa for generations to come”.

The Tourist Board of Dubrovnik has confirmed Travelbook’s text about the attempted sale of the islet and added that its dark past could be an obstacle when it comes to selling it.

Other than the odd tourist and some fishermen here and there, Daksa is relatively a place of solitude and even seagulls seem to pass straight over it, not wanting to land despite its handy location as a safe haven and a look out point. To this very day, people still claim that the only activity on Daksa is paranormal, and the only beings who remain there are the lost souls of the dead.

The post Daksa: Foreign Media Interested By Sale Of Dubrovnik’s Island of Ghosts appeared first on Total Croatia.

The Lokrum Curse is one of the greatest mysteries in the world. This story is relatively unknown in comparison with the curse of Tutankamon’s tomb, but historically, it is much, much stronger.

This incredible and alarming saga begins back in 1023 when a huge fire broke out on the Day of St. Benedict and tragically burned most of the wooden houses in Dubrovnik down. The Dubrovnik people then founded the Abbey of St. Mary on the island of Lokrum – for the salvation of the city. The Benedictines took up ”command”, as they were then the most powerful order in the Catholic Church.

Before long, the Benedictines built a monastery in which they selflessly cared for the old, the poor, the sick and the helpless. Lokrum was the much appreciated refuge for a shipwrecked English king, King Richard the Lionheart, who became disorientated during an Adriatic storm upon his return to England from fighting in The Crusades.

All remained more than well, even plentiful during the time that Dubrovnik locals still had gold, but what goes up must come down, and eventually people found themselves entering into tough times. At the end of the 18th century, revenues were tedious and expenditures remained the same. In an attempt to maintain the peace, the people of Dubrovnik were paying tributes to Turkey (then the seat of the Ottoman Empire) in the amount of 12.5 thousand ducats per year – worth 43kg of gold. Napoleon was also an enormous worry and Dubrovnik feared war.

In desparation, it was decided that it was best to sell Lokrum and one of the conditions was that the Benedictines must leave everything they own. The despised French occupiers were the overseers. And then it all began…

Dressed in black, the Benedictines went out into the blackness of the still night. The solumn group, with their lit candles, turned them upside down. Three times they walked the length of the island, with hot candle wax dripping along the path they took.

With a prayer, they sent out their dark message into the calm night and into endless unknowns of the universe: “Let everybody who tries to take Lokrum for personal gain be damned.”

After 800 years, the Benedictines left the island, never to return. It was August the 7th, 1798.

Five years later, the Dubrovnik government sold the island privately. Gučetić, Sorkočević and Pucić, the Dubrovnik councillors, estimated the value of Lokrum to be approximately 32,000 ducats. The government managed to sell it for 60,000 ducats. A mistake. The Benedictine curse was literally awoken from its sleep.

Sorkočević jumped out of the window from the third floor of his palace in an apparent suicide, Gučetić fell into the sea near Lokrum, and Pucić quietly hung himself in the attic of his house.

The next owner of the island, the wealthy Dubrovnik captain, Tomasevic, was more than completely impoverished. The island had to be sold.

The beautiful, green, but cursed island was first purchased by Dr. Jakopovic from Budapest, to whom Franjo Josip I. entrusted the management of some of his affairs. The island was inherited by his nephew and as soon as he went on a boat to Lokrum, the wind blew it over and of course, he met a premature death by drowning.

Following this series of entirely inexplicable deaths, the island was bought by the brother of Emperor Franjo Josip I, Archbishop Maximilian, for personal reasons. The cursed island of Lokrum – Peace, idyll, paradise. But the happy days were to be short lived.

The first announcement of some sort of superior evil energy occurred in Trsteno, in today’s Arboretum. On the trunk of a large oak tree, Maximilian carved a love heart and he and his wife’s (Charlotte) initials. Immediately after a warm, still summer afternoon, a fierce storm struck from nowhere. The oak was destroyed, the heart remained, but the initials disappeared.

Maximillian met an unenviable end in Mexico, and Charlotte was left to struggle in the endless windmill of time. Returning to Lokrum, she felt that something was terribly wrong and left, eventually committing suicide in Trieste.

The next victim was King Otto Fridrih Vilhelm (Ludwig II.). After a summer break on Lokrum, he learned that the Bavarian ministerial council had declared him clinically insane and removed him from the throne. They found him dead not long after in the lake near his estate.

Following his father’s bizarre death, Rudolf, his son, became the unfortunate new owner of Lokrum.

Many deaths followed, none of them were normal, none were natural and all of them were completely unexpected and without a trace of explanation. Suicides from people who were perfectly okay, and insanity in those who had no issues previously. The curse was taking the lives of all of those who tried to claim Lokrum as their own.

The last owner of Lokrum was the Habsburg knight Windisch Grätz. In 1919, Lokrum was sold to the Government of Yugoslavia for RSD 11 million. But the curse did not stop. A whole family simply disappeared on Lokrum in the 1930s.

While Lokrum may be beautiful to visit, please don’t ever try to buy it unless you have a death wish.

Excerpts taken and translated from Dubrovacki Dnevnik.

The post The Dark Side of Lokrum – Curses, Mystery and Premature Death appeared first on Total Croatia.

One of the most respected Croatian painters, Vlaho Bukovac, was born in the southernmost town of Cavtat on this day in 1855.

As DuList reported on the 4th of July, 2017, Vlaho Bukovac expressed his incredible talent through academism, realism, impressionism and symbolism to modernity. His portrait work is particularly recognisable, making the Cavtat native the most prominent Croatian painter at the turn of the 19th century is the 20th century.

On the occasion of Bukovac’s birthday, a workshop, a lecture and a film screening will be held throughout the day at Bukovac House in Cavtat, the program of which is as follows:

11.00 – Museum Action – Maris Caput: Posters
Intended for children of all ages, which includes making reminders and adverts for the Vlaho Bukovac’s 162nd birthday, and their placement in public spaces around Cavtat.

19.00 – Lecture – Lucija Vukovic: Vlaho Bukovac in Collective Memory of his hometown of Cavtat
The lecture will discuss the collective memory of Vlaho Bukovac in his native Cavtat and the creation of collective memory through spontaneous and organised celebrations of the great painter, realised by the synergy of the local community and experts, all of whom helped the project of the formal establishment of the Memorial Museum of Vlaho Bukovac in Cavtat back in 1964.

20.00 – Film Screening – Vlaho Bukovac, 1994.
Director: Bogdan Žižić
Script: Igor Zidić
Documentary film, 28 minutes

If you’d like to find out more about just who Vlaho Bukovac was, click here.

The post 162 Years Ago Today: Vlaho Bukovac was Born appeared first on Total Croatia.

Dubrovnik is generally known as a uniquely preserved, very old town on the Adriatic Coast, of unparalleled architectural harmony, a true feast for the eye. For its festivals in open air, it is also known as a city-stage, a city-poet, a poet-city, the uncountable epithets and admiration coming from uncountable celebrities and anonymous people alike. Its history has been explored and researched so much, yet it seems that the treasures in its old chest simply never end. The year was 1230 A.D. The Second Bulgarian Empire was progressing and enlarging its territories like never before, reaching all the way to the southern coasts of The Adriatic, not far away from Dubrovnik itself.

Dubrovnik’s proverbial diplomacy and trading skills that already by then were talked about along the shores of the Black Sea, brought a bunch of them to the Court of the Tsar Ivan Asen II, an emperor with a vision if judged by the many great moves he made for his country (1218-1241). In brief, the Tsar released a Chart that granted free trade, free movement and acquisition of property anywhere within the Empire to every citizen of Dubrovnik. Nay, the Chart also quotes the Tsar declaring that whoever would do any harm to anybody from Dubrovnik, would automatically become his personal enemy.

The Chart might easily be one of the earliest documents of the sort ever issued to The Republic of Dubrovnik. Just note that its Archives were founded ‘only’ in 1278 (and have been storing history for us to this very day!) Owing to zealous diplomats and staff of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria to Croatia, and in collaboration with Croatian national and local authorities, a nice replica of the Chart in its real size was unveiled in

Dubrovnik yesterday, June 29 2107. Symbolically, it is located in a small park at Ploče, on the eastern side of the City Walls. The ceremony was led by Mr. Boyko Borisov, Bulgarian Prime Minister and Mr. Mato Franković, the Mayor of Dubrovnik and, at this occasion, a special envoy of the Croatian Prime Minister. Dubrovnik has so exposed one more of its innumerable gems to everybody.

Have a look for yourself, it is only ten steps up from the bus stop by Ploče Gate!

The post A Touch of Bulgaria… in Dubrovnik! appeared first on Total Croatia.

A beautiful post appeared recently on HistoryPicz.com, of a young blonde woman clearly seated high atop Dubrovnik’s defence walls, overlooking the incredible Old Town. Another photo appeared underneath it, with barely any difference to be noticed despite the obvious age difference between the two photographs. 

The daughter of the woman in the original photo, taken forty years ago, came to the Pearl of the Adriatic and recreated her mother’s photo! A small but lovely gesture showing not only timelessness of photography, but of the most beautiful city in the world – Dubrovnik!

The post History repeats itself! Girl goes to Dubrovnik to recreate exact photo her mother took 40 years ago appeared first on Total Croatia.

Dubrovnik’s cultural institutions have recently become richer for valuable archival material belonging to famed historian, pedagogue and journalist Antun Vucetic (1845-1931).

As DuList reports on the 22nd of June, 2017, Vucetic’s successors donated the manuscript legacy and library of the Dubrovnik scientist to the Dubrovnik Archives.

As one of the most important intellectuals in Dubrovnik at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, with several decades of dedicated work in the fields of science and education, Antun Vucetic expertly dealt with a very wide variety of topics, on a broad spectrum. The most famous are his works from 17th century Dubrovnik history, especially from the period before and after the Great Earthquake that devastated the city and wiped out the majority of its population (5,000 people) back in 1667.

He also published a series of smaller articles on individual events and people from Dubrovnik’s past as well as several valuable discussions on the theme of pedagogy. Vucetic was also engaged in numerous societies in Dubrovnik of his time: the Dubrovnik Workers’ Society, Dubrovnik Promotion Society (DUB), the Dubrovnik Branch of the Civil Servants and Employees Association, and he was also one of the founders and President of the Dubrovnik based Society of Sv. Vlaho (Saint Blaise) (1923), which was founded for the purpose of studying and popularising Dubrovnik’s vast and colourful history.

After completing his education at Dubrovnik’s high school, which was then conducted by the Jesuits (1863), Antun Vucetic graduated in history and geography (1867) at the University of Vienna, Austria, eventually becoming a professor at the Dubrovnik Gymnasium. Despite an eight-year break during the time when he was a provincial school inspector in the Dalmatian capital of Split, he remained a professor in Dubrovnik until his retirement in 1903. He was then editor-in-chief of Srdj (1904-1908), the most important cultural journal in Dubrovnik of the time.

After the First World War, he was appointed the first director of the Independent State Archives in Dubrovnik (1921-1924). He played a key role in organising the work and the arrangement of Dubrovnik’s archives (which was then on the ground floor of the Rector’s Palace), especially after the return of archive documents that had ended up in Austria during the war.

Most of this truly priceless donation was awarded to the State Archives in Dubrovnik and consists of a library of almost 600 books, mostly from Dubrovnik’s history and literature, followed by a large number of Vucetic’s manuscripts, notes, prints, and parts of his correspondence and private photographs.

The Archives of the Diocese of Dubrovnik have been given several manuscripts and printed prayer books, collections and books of religious content, as well as several original archive documents, among which two incredible pieces are on parchment from the 15th and 16th centuries are highlighted.

Immediately after Vucetic’s death, the intention of his successors was to donate his library and manuscript legacy to the Dubrovnik institutions, however, an eye-watering 85 year wait for various processes to go through took place.

The post Valuable legacy of Antun Vučetić donated to Dubrovnik Archives appeared first on Total Croatia.

Nikola Dobroslavic was recently re-elected as Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect in the local elections, he has been in this position for a long time and is currently on his third mandate. As DuList reported on the 21st of June, 2017, yesterday, Dobroslavic was in the Italian city of Milan as an envoy of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, alongside other representatives from the Pearl of the Adriatic, including Deputy Mayor Jelka Tepsic and the House of Marin Drzic’s Niksa Matic, you can read more about that here.

He was present at the unveiling of the memorial dedicated to the Dubrovnik born genius Rudjer Boskovic in Milan’s famous Indo Montanelli Park. Taking to Facebook, Dobroslavic wrote ”We are delighted with our Rudjer Boskovic [memorial erected in Milan, the place of Boskovic’s eventual death]. The plaque is made from stone from Dubrovnik Primorje. We also went to Rudjer’s monument and laid a wreath. This all in Milan, and where is it in Dubrovnik? It’s time for a monument dedicated to him! It’s time to add the name of Rudjer Boskovic to the Airport. Is it not?”

If you want to find out more about the genius that is Rudjer Boskovic and just why he is of paramount importance to the City of Dubrovnik, click here.

The post Nikola Dobroslavic: ”It’s time we add the name Rudjer Boskovic to Dubrovnik Airport!” appeared first on Total Croatia.

The famous Ćiro line met its end 41 years ago today. The railroad engineers on board the last train were Ivan Raič-Rale and Tomo Prcović, reports Dubrovnik.net on May 30, 2017. 

The end of the Ćiro line marked the transformation of Dubrovnik into a coastal city. 

It was the definitive end of rail traffic in Dubrovnik; in 1970 the Dubrovnik trams were replaced by buses. Shortly after the Ćiro route went off the rails, and as more time went by, there were fewer traces of the existence of the Dubrovnik railways. Decades after its abolition, the tracks live in the memories of the people who lived during that time, and in particular through the photographs from that era.

Decades after its abolition, the tracks live in the memories of the people who lived during that time, and in particular through the photographs from the era.

Some of the best photos are by Jim Horsford, a lover of narrow-gauge railways who took the route from Capljina to Dubrovnik in 1972, thus photographing the journey.

According to Horsford, the Ćiro line was the most beautiful narrow-gauge railway in the world.

You can read more here. 

The post Dubrovnik in History: On this Day in 1976, Last Whistle Sounds on the Ćiro appeared first on Total Croatia.