Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Libertas
Libertas
—liberty—has always been close to the heart of every Dubrovnik citizen.
Dubrovnik was a proudly independent republic for centuries, even as most of Croatia
became Venetian and then Hungarian.
IntheMiddleAges,thecity-stateofDubrovnik(thencalledRagusa)boughtitsin-
dependence from whichever power was strongest—Byzantium, Venice, Hungary, the
Ottomans, the Vatican—sometimes paying off more than one at a time. Dubrovnik's
shipsflewwhicheverflagswerenecessarytostayfree,earningthederisivenickname
“Town of Seven Flags.” It was sort of a Hong Kong or Singapore of the Middle
Ages—a spunky,trading-oriented statelet that maintained its sovereignty while being
completely surrounded by an often-hostile mega-state (in Dubrovnik's case, the Ot-
