Known as Knezev dvor in Croatian, the Rector’s Palace is a Gothic and Renaissance palace with certain Baroque addition situated between the church of St. Blaise and Dubrovnik cathedral. It used to serve as the seat of the Rector in Dubrovnik Republic between the 14th century and abolition of the Republic in 1808. The palace changed its shape during the history due to the damages by fire, gunpowder explosions or earthquakes. Today’s design is a unique mixture of taste and preferences by numerous architects among which one name stands out: Onofrio della Cava of Naples, who had previously built the aqueduct.
The seat of the Minor council and the state administration also housed an armory, the powder magazine, the watch house and a prison. There is a monument to famous Miho Pracat, a rich shipowner from Lopud, erected in the atrium of the palace.
The History Department of the Museum of Dubrovnik has operated in the palace since 1872, and along with the additional exhibition halls set up, it features a display of many portraits of the Dubrovnik aristocrats and important people in Dubrovnik, paintings by the great masters (Carraci, Tintoretto, Giogione, Bordone, Hamzic and others) as well as the coins of old Dubrovnik from the 14th to 19th centuries and original keys to the city gates.
Ul. Pred Dvorom 3, 20000 Dubrovnik
