Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of ships, even mentioned by Shakespeare. This small museum traces the history of
Dubrovnik'smostimportantindustrywithcontracts,maps,paintings,andmodels—allwell-
described in English. The main floor takes you through the 18th century, and the easy-to-
miss upstairs covers the 19th and 20th centuries. Boaters will find the museum particularly
interesting.
Cost and Hours: Covered by 70-kn combo-ticket with Rector's Palace and Rupe Eth-
nographic Museum, 7-kn English booklet, hours flex on demand—usually March-Oct Tue-
Sun 9:00-18:00, until 16:00 in Nov-Feb, closed Mon year-round, upstairs in St. John's Fort,
at far/south end of Old Port, tel. 020/323-904.
Aquarium (Akvarij)
Dubrovnik's aquarium, housed in the cavernous St. John's Fort, is an old-school place, with
31 tanks on one floor. A visit here allows you a close look at the local marine life and
provides a cool refuge from the midday heat.
Cost and Hours: 40 kn, kids-15 kn, English descriptions, daily July-Aug 9:00-21:00,
progressively shorter hours off-season until 9:00-16:00 Nov-March, ground floor of St.
John's Fort, enter from Old Port, tel. 020/323-978.
Between the Stradun and the Mainland
These two museums are a few steps off the main promenade toward the mainland.
Synagogue Museum (Sinagoga-Muzej)
When the Jews were forced out of Spain in 1492, a steady stream of them passed through
hereenroutetotoday'sTurkey.FindingDubrovniktobeaflourishingandrelativelytolerant
city, many stayed. Žudioska ulica (“Jewish Street”), just inside the Plo č e Gate, became the
ghetto in 1546. It was walled at one end and had a gate (which would be locked at night) at
the other end. Today, the same street is home to the second-oldest continuously functioning
synagogue in Europe (after Prague's), which contains Croatia's only Jewish museum. The
top floor houses the synagogue itself. Notice the lattice windows that separated the women
from the men (in accordance with Orthodox Jewish tradition). Below that, a small museum
with good English descriptions gives meaning to the various Torahs (including a 14th-cen-
tury one from Spain) and other items—such as the written orders (naredba) from Nazi-era
Yugoslavia, stating that Jews were to identify their shops as Jewish-owned and wear arm-
bands. (The Ustaše—the Nazi puppet government in Croatia—interned and executed not
only Jews and Roma/Gypsies, but also Serbs and other people they considered undesirable;
see here . ) Of Croatia's 24,000 Jews, only 4,000 survived the Holocaust. Today Croatia has
about 2,000 Jews, including a dozen Jewish families who call Dubrovnik home.
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