Dubrovnik_2019 10 21_0395 — HBarrison

Church of Saint Blaise in Dubrovnik Old Town is also known as Crkva Svetog Vlaha. It is a Baroque church built between 1706 and 1714 on the site of a 14th-century Romanesque church damaged in the 1667 earthquake / Dubrovnik is a city on the Adriatic Sea in southern Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the center of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its total 2019 population was <30,000. In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites. The prosperity of the city was historically based on maritime trade; as the capital of the maritime Republic of Ragusa, it achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries, as it became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy. In 1991, after the break-up of Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik was besieged by Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers of the Yugoslav People's Army for seven months and suffered significant damage from shelling. The 'Pearl of the Adriatic', situated on the Dalmatian coast, became an important Mediterranean Sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it has since a focus for its complete restoration in a program coordinated by UNESCO. After making repair and restorations in the 1990s and early 2000s, Dubrovnik has re-emerged as one of the top tourist destinations in the Mediterranean.