Dubrovnik between Heritage and Game of Thrones
A few weeks ago (after my visit to China) I visited Dubrovnik, the famous Croatian city (ancient Ragusum). Its old city centre consists of churches, squares, houses, a large city wall and much more. Dubrovnik is famous for being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. No wonder when you see it! But wait, something was wrong. As we walked through the streets of Dubrovnik, tourists were chanting “shame, shame, shame”. Also, the souvenir shops seemed to offer something other than the usual Croatian sweets, handicrafts and postcards… It occurred to me that I was visiting the city between Heritage and Game of Thrones.
The old town of Dubrovnik
The Old Town of Dubrovnik, the historic centre of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, formerly known as Ragusa or the Republic of Ragusa, is an impressive historic complex on the southern Dalmatian coast. Known as the ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Croatia since 1979. The old town of Dubrovnik is a unique medieval walled city with numerous medieval, baroque and renaissance monuments. These monuments are in excellent condition and form a coherent architectural whole.
I visited the city walls, a Franciscan monastery, several churches and the Rector’s Palace. Did you know that the city of Dubrovnik was governed by a large and a small council of nobles? The small council elected a rector to run the city for a year. To protect him from lobbyists, he and his family had to live in isolation in the palace. Considering today’s politics, I think this was a wise move.
Game of Thrones
Dubrovnik was the main location in Croatia for the filming of King’s Landing, the capital of the seven kingdoms in Game of Thrones (GoT), based on the fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Of course I watched it, and except for the last three episodes (everything after “The Long Night”) it was actually a very good (if a bit brutal) series. The old town of Dubrovnik is a perfect location for filming as the city walls, houses, churches and fortresses are really impressive on their own.
Many of the GoT scenes took place on the city walls, the Pile Gate, the Minčeta Tower or Fort Lovrijenac. As you walk through the city, you can actually recognise the scenes from the show, as they only needed a minimal amount of CGI to make it look impressive. When I reached the Jesuit Stairs, I was immediately reminded of a scene where the evil Queen Cersei had to walk down those stairs naked and tormented by the crowd for her past misdeeds. People threw vegetables at her and a nun leading the way kept shouting “shame”.
The balance of Heritage and Game of Thrones
Of course, many tourists took photos on the stairs and also shouted “Shame” to entertain their videos. It felt strange to me. While I was admiring the old town, its architectural beauty as well as its historical value, people seemed to be only interested in GoT. Looking around the gift shops in the city, it also became very clear that GoT was taking over. Instead of beautifully crafted souvenirs, you can now buy GoT shirts, mugs, pins, postcards and countless other useless things.
I read somewhere that since GoT was filmed in Dubrovnik, an extra $10 million comes into the city every year. I understand that, especially when you have to maintain and preserve the beautiful old town. But I also think that Dubrovnik focuses too much on GoT instead of its own heritage. The old town of Dubrovnik is beautiful on its own, without being a filming location. Reading about the various sites within the city walls, I was really impressed by its history between medieval wars, Ottoman trade relations or its French, Austro-Hungarian and finally Yugoslavian connection. If you ever want to go to Dubrovnik, do it. But please ignore GoT, at least as much as possible.
