5/5 Marina B. 4 years ago on Google
Stradun (pronounced [strǎduːn])
or Placa (Stradone or Corso)
is
the main
street of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The
limestone-paved
pedestrian
street
runs
some
300 metres through
the
Old
Town,
the
historic
part
of
the
city
surrounded
by
the Walls
of
Dubrovnik.[1][2]
The
site
of
the
present-day
street
used
to
be
a
marshy
channel
which
separated
Ragusa
from
the
forest
settlement
of
Dubrava
before
it
was
reclaimed
in
the
13th
century.[3] Stradun
stretches
through
the
walled
town
in
the
east-west
direction,
connecting
the
western
entrance
called
the
"Pile
Gate"
(Vrata
od
Pila)
to
the
"Ploče
Gate"
(Vrata
od
Ploča)
on
the
eastern
end.
Both
ends
are
also
marked
with
15th-century
fountains
(the
so-called Large
Onofrio's
Fountain in
the
western
section
and
the Small
Onofrio's
Fountainon
the
east
end)
and bell
towers (the
Dubrovnik
Bell
Tower
to
the
east
end
and
the
bell
tower
attached
to
the Franciscan monastery
to
the
west).[4]
Stradun
became
the
city's
main
thoroughfare
in
the
13th
century,
and
its
current
appearance
was
for
the
most
part
created
following
the
devastating 1667
earthquake in
which
most
of
the
buildings
in
Ragusa
(as
Dubrovnik
was
then
called)
were
destroyed.
Before
the
earthquake
the
houses
which
line
the
street
were
not
so
uniformly
designed
as
they
appear
today,
with
many
of
them
featuring arcades and
elaborate
decorations.[2] Following
the
1667
earthquake
and
a
large
fire
which
broke
out
immediately
afterwards,
the Republic
of
Ragusapassed
a
law
which
specified
the
layout
of
all
future
residential
buildings
constructed
in
the
city.
