Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik (杜布羅夫尼克) is an old city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia(克羅地亞). It is one of the most outstanding tourist resorts of the Mediterranean, a seaport and the centre of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its population is about 43,000 in 2011. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic" and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.

The city of Dubrovnik was built on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages it became the only city-state in the Adriatic to rival Venice. The city achieved a remarkable level of development during the 15th and 16th centuries. Furthermore, Dubrovnik was one of the centres of the development of the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars.

Today Dubrovnik is an elite destination and one of the most beautiful towns in the Mediterranean. Dubrovnik used to be an independent republic, surviving mostly on trade. It managed to survive many centuries, with constant threats to its territory, particularly from the mighty Ottoman Empire and Venice.

Dubrovnik is attractive in stunning architecture and sculptural details, and boasts of its spectacular churches, monasteries, museums, and fountains (Onofrio is an example). Note that Rector’s Palace is an important museum to study the development of the city.