A dose of history today as the Croatian Air Force mounts a replica cannon with enormous historical significance on Lovrijenac fortress.
As Dubrovacki Vjesnik writes on the 5th of December, 2017, on an otherwise normal, sunny, unassuming Tuesday in the Pearl of the Adriatic, the mighty Lovrijenac fortress ended up being the site of a rather unusual happening.
A helicopter belonging to the Croatian Air Force has placed a replica of one of two cannons from the time of the formerly autonomous Dubrovnik Republic (Ragusa/Dubrovacka Republika) on top of the formidable fortress which towers over Pile, Sulic beach and the open Adriatic sea.
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The impressive cannon a replica of the original which, right up until 1816, was on Lovrijenac, and is now in the Military History Museum in the Austrian capital of Vienna. On top sits a figure of Dubrovnik's eternal protector, Saint Blaise (Sveti Vlaho), and numerous decorations that will no doubt be a welcome addition and complete the already incredible image of Lovrijenac fortress, otherwise the most popular stage on which Shakespeare's famous Hamlet was performed as part of the much-loved Dubrovnik Summer Festival.
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''We managed to create a replica of Jerome Vicenza's cannon that was in the city until the Austrians took it away to Vienna. There is a beautiful figure of Saint Blaise, and there are plenty of decorations and inscriptions that make clear who made it. The replica is made of the same material as the original,'' stated Niko Kapetanić from the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities.
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