Church of St. Blaise

Dubrovnik's devotion to its patron saint borders on the obsessive. St. Blaise is on the gates, the walls, the fountains, the flag, and the manhole covers. And this church, sitting at the heart of Luža Square, is the ultimate expression of that devotion — a Baroque masterpiece built specifically to honour a 4th-century Armenian bishop who, by some accounts, has been protecting the city since 971 AD.

The current church was built between 1706 and 1714 after a fire destroyed the original Romanesque structure that had stood here since the 14th century. In a delicious irony, the Republic hired Venetian architect Marino Gropelli to design the replacement — despite the fact that Dubrovnik and Venice had been bitter rivals for centuries. Apparently, aesthetic standards trumped political grudges. The result is a refined Baroque church modelled partly on the Church of San Maurizio in Venice, with a wide staircase, an elegant facade, and a balanced interior flooded with light.

The most important object inside is a 15th-century gilt silver statue of St. Blaise on the main altar. The saint holds a scale model of Dubrovnik in his left hand, and this model is historically significant because it shows the city before the 1667 earthquake — the only surviving three-dimensional record of what medieval Dubrovnik actually looked like. Scholars have used this tiny model to reconstruct buildings that were lost centuries ago.

Every February 3rd, the Feast of St. Blaise transforms the city. The relics are brought out from the Cathedral, processions fill the streets, and the entire city effectively shuts down for celebration. The tradition has been maintained since at least the 10th century and was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.