Jesuit Monumental Stairs and Bošković Square

Why is it significant?

Before you rises the breathtaking sweep of the Jesuit Stairs, universally hailed as one of the most brilliant urban achievements of the Roman Baroque along the entire eastern Adriatic coast.

Key Facts

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Before you rises the breathtaking sweep of the Jesuit Stairs, universally hailed as one of the most brilliant urban achievements of the Roman Baroque along the entire eastern Adriatic coast. Designed in 1738 by the distinguished Roman architect Pietro Passalacqua, this monumental stairway ascends in elegant, undulating convex and concave stone curves modeled closely upon the celebrated Spanish Steps in Rome.

The stairs lead gracefully up to Bošković Square, an elevated cultural acropolis crowned by the monumental Jesuit Church of Saint Ignatius and the prestigious Collegium Ragusinum, founded in 1658. The square honors Dubrovnik's most renowned scientific genius, Ruđer Bošković, the eighteenth-century Jesuit polymath, astronomer, and physicist whose atomic theories foreshadowed modern quantum physics.

In modern global pop culture, these sweeping stone steps achieved worldwide fame as the filming location for one of the most iconic scenes in television history: Cersei Lannister's dramatic Walk of Shame in the fifth season of Game of Thrones. Thousands of international visitors climb these steps today to retrace that memorable television sequence. Flanking the Jesuit Church of Saint Ignatius, the grand Baroque facade of the Collegium Ragusinum provided an advanced humanist education in philosophy, classical rhetoric, mathematics, and maritime law to generations of Ragusan patricians and scholars, earning the academy an esteemed reputation across Catholic Europe as a distinguished center of learning.

Ascending the curved stone steps, you feel the theatrical genius of Baroque architecture, where urban space itself becomes a grand dramatic stage. At the top of the stairs, looking down over the cascading stone balustrades toward the terracotta roofs of the Old Town, the visual harmony between theatrical stonework and open sky takes your breath away. This magnificent ensemble demonstrates how Dubrovnik welcomed the finest Italian architectural masterminds to elevate its civic splendor.

Walk west along the quiet crest of Rupe Street toward the historic state granary.