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Dubrovnik (historical Ragusa) occupies a rocky promontory on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, facing the Adriatic Sea. Founded or refounded by refugees from Epidaurum (Cavtat) after Slavic and Avar incursions, the city grew as a Byzantine-then-independent maritime republic from the 7th century onward. By the 15th and 16th centuries Ragusa was a wealthy trading state balancing Ottoman, Venetian, and Habsburg spheres, famed for diplomacy, shipbuilding, and its 1272 Statute.
The present circuit of walls — roughly 2 kilometres, up to 25 metres high — largely dates to the 12th–17th centuries, withstood the 1667 earthquake, and was repaired after the 1990s siege of Dubrovnik. Inside, the Stradun (Placa) limestone artery links the Pile and Ploče Gates; the Rector's Palace, Sponza, and Franciscan monastery exemplify Gothic and Renaissance Adriatic architecture.
UNESCO listed the Old City of Dubrovnik in 1979; damage during the 1991–1992 shelling led to major international restoration. Tourism now ranks among the highest in the Mediterranean, with cruise and heritage visitors crowding the walls each summer.