Croatia Travel Blog

“We love tourists and travellers”, said local art historian, Goran Vukovic. “We just need to preserve the unique atmosphere of Dubrovnik that visitors are coming to see”. He was talking about a recent candlelight protest that drew some 2000 Dubrovnik residents to the streets. At issue was the city’s plan to “redevelop” the area around Pile Gate to accommodate the needs of tourists, specifically the ones that come in vehicles. A vast new underground parking garage has already destroyed a 17th-century orphanage outside Pile Gate. Okay, it may not have been one of Dubrovnik’s architectural masterpieces, but still. The new and boxy “Monument to the Fallen Defenders” outside Pile Gate is also no masterpiece, according to locals. Worse, is the plan to expand and modernize the current local bus stop outside Pile Gate to receive the constant stream of tour buses that bring cruise passengers to the town walls. Approaching Dubrovnik’s classic western gate to the tune of rumbling engines is not the way to fall under the spell of Dubrovnik’s charms.

The project is presented as a “solution” but locals feel that it addresses the wrong problem. What about the fact that the Old Town population has dropped to 900 (from 3000 only a few decades ago) as ballooning real estate values encourage citizens to sell and leave? What about the grocers, butchers and hairdressers that cede ground to souvenir stores? Could Dubrovnik have survived earthquakes, occupation and shelling only to be turned into an amusement park?

Concerned citizens have launched a petition drive to block the project and are appealing to the international art-loving community and UNESCO, which named Dubrovnik a World Heritage Site. “This is an appeal by the citizens of Dubrovnik to those of you all over the world who know and love our beautiful, walled town founded in the 7th century” they declared in their petition to “Save Dubrovnik’s Landmarks”. (You can find it here).

Can a group of “concerned citizens” protect their way of life against the inexorable demands of mass tourism? It sounds like a hopeless cause but Dubrovnik has prevailed over much longer odds.

See more about Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik history.

Posted under Croatia Travel & Dubrovnik & Life in Croatia |