Dubrovnik Sponza Palace
by Natasa Lujic
It is also knows as the Divona, a word that has its roots in the italian word "dogana," which means the "custom house." Any merchants arriving in the town made the Sponza their first port of call (after serving their statutory term in the quarantine), and all their goods were examined and the amount of duty payable was calculated. Today's shape it got between 1516. and 1524. when it was built in a gothic-renaissance style. It was designed by Paskoje Milicevic;, as his last great project and his masterpiece. The building of the architectural and ornamental parts was carried out by stonemasons from the island of Korcula, and the brothers Andijic. The building has two floors with the Renaissance portico and beautiful archways on the ground floor. In the center of the first floor fasade, you may see a threephora with the door that leads to the terrace, and two monophoras on the sides decorated with the flowers, all made in the late gothic style. On the second floor, you may see four rectangular windows made in a Renaissance style, and in the center of it, an effigy of St. Blaise holding Dubrovnik in his left hand. The fasade finishes with a straight gable crowned with the palm trees on top of which are carved buds. In the interior of the Sponza Palace, there is a courtyard surrounded by archways. In the atrium, there used to be store-rooms, all with the names of saints carved above their doorways, 18 of them in total. Carved above the central archway at the far end of the oblong inner courtyard is the motto "Fallere nostra ventant, et falli pondera. Meque pondero cum merces, ponderat ipse Deus," that translates, "The scales I use to weigh merchandise are the same scales by which God weighs me." At the time of the Republic, the first floor was used for learned gatherings, where the Republic's scientists expound their latest theories and literati could declaim their poetry. There were also classes, concerts, etc. In the 18th century there was also a play similar to the famous "Alka" displayed. Above, on the second floor was the State Mint were coins of gold, silver and copper were made. Ragussan currency (preperae, grossi, and ducats) was accepted round the world, recognized and convertible on all foreign exchanges. Dubrovnik had its currency from the 13th to the 19th century. Today, the Sponza Palace houses the city's Historical Archives - the oldest document dating from 1022. There are over 7 000 volumes in the archive. Handwritten books are mostly written in Italian and Latin, but you may find here also documents in Croatian, Turkish, and other languages. As a part of this large archive, there are also the archives from the French, and Austrian reign, as well as newer documents, private records of heritage, etc. As another interesting fact, from the second half of the 13th century, so called "notarijat" systematically has written documents, and from 1301 even the notes from the official meetings have been written down.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? |
