Franciscan Church and Monastery: A Historic Catholic Monastery in Dubrovnik
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Croatia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Republic of Ragusa
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page8 sections
History
The Franciscan Church and Monastery is a Catholic Franciscan male monastery in Dubrovnik, Croatia, whose community established the complex through medieval, Baroque, and modern phases of development. Franciscans, a Catholic order founded by Saint Francis of Assisi and associated with communal religious life, poverty, and service, first established a monastery outside Dubrovnik’s old walls in 1235. A new monastery was founded within the walls in 1317, while its individual buildings continued to be constructed over the following centuries.
Medieval foundation
A cloister, a covered walkway surrounding an open courtyard, was built around 1360. It became a central part of monastic life and later one of the complex’s principal attractions. The monastery’s pharmacy was established soon after the foundation. It initially served sick monks, then became a source of income for the community. Since 1938, it has also operated as a museum and is possibly the third-oldest operating pharmacy in the world.
Earthquake and Baroque rebuilding
The 1667 earthquake almost completely destroyed the monastery church. It was subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style, a later European architectural style known for elaborate ornament and dynamic forms. The rebuilt church incorporated new altars and decoration, while a Gothic portal dated 1498 survived from the earlier structure.
War damage and continuing use
The bell tower, cloister, and library premises were damaged during the bombardment of Dubrovnik in the 1991–1992 siege and were restored after the war. The monastery remains active: monks occupy its residential areas, while the museum section includes the Franciscan museum, pharmacy, and library. The complex is recognized as an architectural monument.
Remains
Church and entrance
The complex stands in Dubrovnik’s Old City near Pile Gate and the Onofrio Fountain, north of Stradun, the city’s main street. The church’s principal facade and entrance face directly onto Stradun. Its only surviving element from before the 1667 earthquake is the Gothic portal from 1498. Produced in the Dubrovnik workshop of the brothers Leonard and Petar Petrović, the portal has a lunette, a semicircular field above a doorway, containing a Pietà, the image of the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ. Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist flank the scene, with God the Father above.
The rebuilt Baroque interior contains a main altar made by Celio of Ancona in 1713. A sculpture of the Resurrected Christ stands among four twisted marble columns. Five side altars were produced by the Venetian artist Giuseppe Sardi between 1684 and 1696. Celestin Medović, a Croatian painter, undertook the decoration of the Saint Francis altar in 1888. The church also contains the burial place of the seventeenth-century poet Ivan Gundulić.
Cloisters
The monastery has two cloisters. The upper cloister belongs to the residential part of the complex, while the lower cloister combines Romanesque and Gothic features. Romanesque architecture is associated with massive construction and rounded forms, while Gothic architecture is characterized by pointed arches and a more vertically oriented design.
Created around 1360 by Mihoje Brajkov of Bar, the lower cloister is richly decorated with carved columns and is regarded as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Croatia. Its colonnade contains paired octagonal columns with varied capitals depicting human heads, animals, and floral motifs. The cloister has 120 columns and 12 massive pilasters, which are shallow attached supports resembling columns. Frescoes showing episodes from the life of Saint Francis were added in 1860, and a fountain with a statue of Saint Francis stands at the center.
Library, pharmacy, and museum
The monastery library contains more than 70,000 volumes, including more than 1,200 considered to have exceptional value and importance. It forms part of the monastery museum, which also displays old liturgical objects, items used in Christian worship, and jewelry artworks. The pharmacy likewise forms part of the museum section, linking the monastery’s continuing religious life with its long medical and institutional history.
