The city walls
The city walls, the most powerful ode to the centuries-old Dubrovnik's liberty without exaggeration are among the most impressive and intact structures of their kind in Europe and can be compared only with the walls of the French city of Carcasson. The construction of the first forts, in lime and stone, started as early as the end of the 8th century, but the old chronicles say that some sort of castle reliably existed on the peninsula Lave quite a long time prior to that. Being constructed very solidly, the strong 1667 earthquake did not affect them too much. The present shape of the walls was defined in the 14th century, but the peak of its construction falls from the beginning of the 15th century till the second half of the 16th century. The entire old city is now contained within a curtain of stone 1940m long and up to 25m high. The walls are thicker on the land side - from 4 to 5.5m, but run 1.5 to 3m on the sea side. The main wall from the land side is encircled by the bulwark with 10 semi-circular bastions and a casemate fort. The walls were surrounded by the moat too, remains of which can be recognized in the park near the Pile Gate. Although detached from the walls, the strong Lovrjenac Fort from the west and the Revelin Fort form the east belong to the defense system of the city. There are two main entrances of the city - from Pile at the western side (The Pile Gate) and from Ploče at the eastern side (The Ploče Gate).
The city harbor had two exits towards the Harbor - Vrata od Ponte (The Ponte Gate) and Vrata Ribarnice (The Fishmarket Gate). In the period of the greatest threat to Dubrovnik's freedom the walls were armed by more than 120 cannons. They were founded in the famous Dubrovnik's foundries, and the most notable designer and founder was Ivan Rabljanin in the 16th century. The views over the town and sea are gorgeous from the walls, so they are one of the greatest attractions of Dubrovnik.