The town of Dubrovnik is a thesaurus of cultural and historic monuments, arising through centuries. In the past, Dubrovnik was a Town-Republic, and alongside Venice, one of the most famous cultural and economic centers of the Mediterranean.

In the recent history, Dubrovnik is the center of contemporary cultural and tourist events, like the Summer Festival – an international event of top achievements in music and drama. Dubrovnik is also the town full of museums and galleries. These valuable things made Dubrovnik the place that offers rich variety of different experiences and excitements, but also an utter vacation in quiet and soothing surroundings of mild Mediterranean climate and magnificent coastal sceneries.

There are several theories on the foundation of the town of Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and the commonly accepted is the one saying that the Town was founded in the 7th century, when Latins from the town of Epidaurus (southern of Dubrovnik, on the same location as today's Cavtat) fled from the attacks of Avarians and Slavs. The Latins found shelter on the cliff named Laus (laus = rock), and later they built a settlement on the southern slopes of the Srđ hill, located on the mainland just opposite the laus cliff.

They named the settlement Dubrava (dubrava = oak wood). Over time, surrounding settlements connected into one, and in the 11th century they became the one town, after covering the narrow sea passage dividing them (today's Stradun). In the 12th and 13th century they protected themselves completely by defense walls.

According to other theories and antique inscriptions, Dubrovnik might have been founded even before the 3rd century, as a small settlement on the islet of Laus.

The prosperity of the Republic of Dubrovnik
The Republic of Dubrovnik was the aristocratic Republic of patricians, where the governance was in the hands of noblemen organized in the Great Council (the parliament). The Great Council elected the town's administration – The Senate which took care of external affairs, and the Small Council that represented the executive governance. The Duke was elected each month, preventing thus any possibility of the corruption. Dubrovnik did not have a regular army, but only bobbies and guards. Should the events require an army, Dubrovnik used to hire paid soldiers. In the 15th century there were 40,000 inhabitants in Dubrovnik, making it thus one of the biggest cities in Europe (at that time London had around 50,000 inhabitants, and Florence over 100,000)