History of Dubrovnik

About This Course

Dubrovnik, the national heritage site recognized by UNESCO, has become Croatia's tourist mecca, attracting more and more tourists each season. However, historically, Dubrovnik is much more than that. Its cultural and historical heritage, as well as archivalia, is an unavoidable material for every researcher dealing with the history of Adriatic and Balkan areas.

The aim of this course is to provide students with the cultural and historical background of the city of Dubrovnik, the city whose merchants, diplomats and scientists marked the history of the world. The ten lectures will set forth the basic political, economic and cultural ideas of Dubrovnik’s history. Why Dubrovnik is dedicated such a unique position in Croatian history is the question we will answer by regarding several historical aspects: the everyday reality of Dubrovnik’s population, destabilizing factors (war, hunger, earthquake, epidemics), influential administrative measures of the authorities, and so on. The inscriptions ˝Obliti privatorum, publica curate˝ and ˝Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro˝ still represent the ideal of public interest and why and where they are inscribed is something You will find out by taking this course!

Course Staff

Gordan Ravančić, PhD

Gordan Ravančić was born in Zagreb in 1972, where he completed his primary, secondary and higher education. In 1996 he graduated history from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, and in 1997 he earned the Master of Arts in Medieval Studies degree from the Central European University (Hungary). After earning his master’s degree from the Department of History at University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, he earned a Ph.D. in 2006 with a dissertation on Dubrovnik plague 1348-1349. He has been a member of the Croatian Institute of History and has been teaching medieval national history and computer technologies in historical research at the Centre for Croatian Studies since 1998. He has been active on various scientific assemblies, worked as an associate in the The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography and is an author of several school textbooks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to buy a textbook?

No, all course materials will be available online.

Do I need to know Croatian to follow the course?

No, audio of the lectures will be in the native language of the lecturer with subtitles in English and Croatian. Quizzes will be in English.

Course:: History of Dubrovnik