The Luža Square and Orlando's column
The Luža Square is situated at the eastern end of Placa and is surrounded by the most important administrative, public and religious objects of the Dubrovnik Republic. On the left, the Sponza Palace was once the customs house and mint, a State treasury, then Luža - the city bell-tower, the Headquarters of the City Guard, Little Onofrio's Fountain, Rector's Palace and the church of Dubrovnik's patron saint St Blaise. The square was the life center of the little Republic: the palace where people used to trade, where edicts, festivities and public verdicts were announced. Luža Square is also one of the focal points of the Feast of St Blaise with a citywide bash marked by pageants ind processions. From 1950 it is also the stage for the opening ceremony of Dubrovnik's Summer Festival which is to a large extent connected with the rituals in which the Dubrovnik Republic symbolically expressed its independence and sovereignty.
In the middle of the square is the Orlando Column with the status of a legendary Norman knight Roland, who was a soldier of Carlo the Great Armada and the hero of the medieval epic Chanson d'Roland. The Dubrovnik chronicles and legends connect him with the defense of Dubrovnik from the Saracen attack in 788, but without any real foundation. This present stone column was erected in 1419 as a replacement for the old one. It was designed by the Milan sculptor Bonino and done by the local artisans. It represents a morale-boosting monument to freedom, and it was here that government ordinances were promulgated and punishments executed. Orlando's right forearm was the official linear measure of the Republic which measures 51.1 cm (the Ragusian cubit). When the severe storm in 1825 knocked down the column (until then facing East), a little copper plate was found in its base inscribed in Gothic letters about its original erection). In today's position Orlando column was set up again as late as 1878.