Palača Sponza, Dubrovnik

Palača Sponza is a sixteenth-century palace, also known as Divona, with a courtyard enclosed by a blend of Gothic and Renaissance design. Look at the stone arcade and the sculpted details around the entrance: the Andrijić brothers and other craftsmen made these elements. Construction ran from 1516 to 1522 under Paskoje Miličević Mihov.

The building once handled customs, stored bonded goods, struck coins, and housed a treasury, bank, armoury, and school. Its atrium became a busy marketplace and meeting place for merchants. Read the Latin inscription on the arched passage: it declares that honest weighing is watched by God.

The Dubrovnik State Archive now occupies the palace, preserving records reaching back to 1022, including thousands of manuscript volumes. The building came through the 1667 earthquake undamaged.