Large Onofrio's Fountain and the Stradun: The Polished Limestone Avenue
Why is it significant?
Walk up to the sixteen carved stone maskaron spouts of Large Onofrio's Fountain and listen to the cold mountain water pouring into the round basin.
Key Facts
| Place | Large Onofrio's Fountain and the Stradun: The Polished Limestone Avenue |
|---|---|
| Address | Poljana Paska Miličevića, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia |
| Geo Coordinates | 42.64140, 18.10750 |
| Part of Walk | Dubrovnik: Pearl of the Adriatic, White Stone Walls, and King's Landing |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk up to the sixteen carved stone maskaron spouts of Large Onofrio's Fountain and listen to the cold mountain water pouring into the round basin. Turn to look down the three-hundred-meter length of the Stradun: the white limestone flagstones are so mirror-polished by six centuries of footsteps that they shine like wet glass under the Mediterranean sun.
Built in fourteen thirty-eight by Neapolitan master engineer Onofrio della Cava, this fountain brought crystal-clear spring water from a mountain source twelve kilometers away through an ingenious underground aqueduct, giving Ragusa the most advanced public sanitation system in Europe.
The Stradun was originally a marshy sea channel that separated the Roman island settlement of Ragusium from the Slavic mainland settlement of Dubrava. Filled in during the eleventh century, it became the grand stage where merchants, patricians, and sea captains paraded.
Walk to the adjoining Franciscan Monastery to enter one of the oldest pharmacies on earth.