The Rector's Palace is a palace in Dubrovnik built as the seat of
government and the apartment of the prince, the highest political
office in the Republic of Dubrovnik.
The prince was elected
for a term of one month and during that time he was the head of the
Small Council. In the Rector's Palace, the prince had his office and
the apartment in which he stayed during his term, separated from his
family. During this time he was not allowed to leave the court
except for state and protocol reasons. Overnight he would keep the
keys to the city which he returned to the people in the morning at a
protocol ceremony. In the Rector's Palace there are halls of the
Grand and Small Councils, state offices, courtrooms, prisons, armory
and gunpowder. At the entrance is the Latin inscription Obliti
privatorum publica curate ("Forget private and take care of the
public").
The first mention of the building in the area of
today's Rector's Palace is from the 13th century, when the
fortress ('castellum') is mentioned. During the 14th century, the
fortress was gradually transformed into a palace, following the
example of the Roman and Venetian traditions. In 1435, an explosion
of gunpowder occurred in the armory, as a result of which the
Rector's Palace was severely damaged. After that, the restoration
lasted, which lasted from 1435 to 1463. The project was led by
Neapolitan engineer Onofrio della Cava, who is believed to be the
author of a representative façade in a mixed Gothic-Renaissance
style. Many artists, sculptors, stonemasons and masons took part in
the execution of the details. Of the sculptural ornaments, the work
of the sculptor Peter Martinov stands out, the capital of the porch
depicting Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, made around 1440.
The building was subsequently damaged twice more. Shortly after
the restoration in 1463, a new explosion of gunpowder damaged the
Rector's Palace. After the last explosion comes a master from
Florence who will lead the further restoration of the court, Salvi
di Michele. Gothic-Renaissance windows on the facade were carved by
local masters Radivoj Bogosalić, Radonja Grubačević, Đuro
Utišenović, Ratko Ivančić and Nikola Marković. In the great
earthquake of 1667, it suffered damage to the interior, and the
reconstruction that followed lasted for three decades. Initially, an
attempt was made to restore the Gothic-Renaissance appearance of the
court, for which the architects Francesco Cortese from Rome and
Paolo Andreotti from Genoa were hired as consultants. However, in
1689, with the arrival of the great architect, the Sicilian Tommaso
Napoli, the building was imprinted with a baroque seal by designing
a new atrium.
The Rector's Palace retained its original
function until 1808, when French Marshal August Marmont abolished
the Republic of Dubrovnik. Until World War II, it had an
administrative function. During their visits to Dubrovnik, rulers
Franjo Josip I and Aleksandar Karađorđević also visited it. It was
turned into a museum in 1948.
In the atrium is the bust of
Miha Pracat, the only monument erected by the Republic of Dubrovnik
to a deserving commoner. He was also killed in the earthquake, and
was subsequently rebuilt.
Present
Today, the Rector's
Palace building is a historical museum within the Dubrovnik Museums.
The courtyard is furnished with period furniture from the last
period of the 19th century Dubrovnik Republic. The furniture itself
did not originally belong to the Rector's Palace, but was collected
for years from old Dubrovnik palaces, summer houses and civic
houses. In the Rector's Palace there is an exhibition of paintings
by old masters from the period from the 15th to the second half of
the 19th century. The front of the Rector's Palace is located on the
back of the 50 kuna banknote.
Concerts of classical music are
held in the atrium of the Rector's Palace during the Dubrovnik
Summer Festival and the Julian Rachlin Festival. During the year,
the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra traditionally holds its concerts in
the same space.
At the end of 2019, a new heating and cooling
system was installed in the Rector's Palace in the old town center,
which uses sea water as an energy source. The plant supplies the
City Administration building and the Rector's Palace, as well as the
Sloboda Cinema and the Marin Držić Theater, and the "Seadrion"
project worth a little over 3 million kuna is co-financed by the
European Union.