Dubrovačke gradske zidine, Dubrovnik

The Dubrovnik Walls are the massive defensive stone circuit enclosing much of the Old Town. Their uninterrupted course measures approximately 1,940 metres, and the fortifications rise as high as about 25 metres. Most of what you see took shape from the 13th through the 17th centuries, although defensive works here began much earlier.

Trace the wall’s heavy surface toward the towers: the system includes circular and quadrangular towers, bastions, angular forts, and the substantial St. John’s Fortress. More than 120 cannons once strengthened the defences, while a moat added another obstacle outside the walls.

The land wall is especially formidable, reaching between 4 and 6 metres in thickness. Its entrances were designed as a sequence of doors and turns, so an arriving messenger could not move straight into the city. At Pile Gate, the stone bridge leads toward a drawbridge and the gateway carries Saint Blaise with a model of Dubrovnik.

The eastern entrance, Ploče Gate, is linked with Revelin Fortress by bridges over a defensive ditch. This solid construction helped the walls withstand the strong earthquake of 1667. Their most striking quality is still their physical scale: a continuous ring of limestone fortification wrapped around the historic city.