Tell me a story about who you are
and meet me in the stories that I live.
Incidentally, in a completely random place, in the basement of a building I saw a top inscription which make me feel good.
In the end, we are what we can share with others, stories we can narrate – so, look for a story, of a man, of a stone, sea, trees … In Dubrovnik you have them at every step, from every stone on which you lean and to which you wink.
One such story tells us about the St. Lawrence Fortress, the only one that was built outside the city walls by Dubrovnik Republic. And here’s that story which, according to a legend, is behind all that stone.
In the 11th century, at the area of today’s street Prijeko, King Bodin of Dukljan Kingdom raises fortress and keeps Dubrovnik under siege. Failing to penetrate into the fortress by force, people of Dubrovnik bribe her commander Vucha Gradiensa. His crew gets drunk one night so it was an easy win for Dubrovnik people. For his own merits Gradiensa has been taken in Dubrovnik aristocrats.
On the same place where the fortress was and from the same stone church of St. Nicholas was built.
And as they celebrated Gradiensa, Dubrovnik feared a similar fate. So, for the commander of St. Lawrence Fortress duty was for only one month and he had to be from the aristocracy. It is interesting that the walls of the fortress facing the town are only 60 centimeters thick, and the walls turn out of the town are up to 12 meters. This way Dubrovnik wanted to ensure itself against a possible revolt of the crew of the fortress but also from foreign invaders.
Is this story about King Bodin true or not I don’t know. Doing some reserch I found this map below of Dukljan Kingdom in 11th century. Dubrovnik was a free state and it is true that King Bodin attacked Dubrovnik but in order to capture some of his relatives. It’s also said that Dukljan army left one fortress to the city of Dubrovnik after they managed to capture them.
