Saint Blaise enters the world of modern technology with a virtual overview of the historical, artistic and cultural heritage of Dubrovnik!
The mobile application “Sveti Vlaho i Dubrovnik” (Saint Blaise and Dubrovnik) is a project undetaken by the Dubrovnik Museums, which enables smart phone users to get a virtual view of the historical, artistic and cultural heritage of the town, as well as a virtual tour of Dubrovnik with clearly marked locations of significance and original monuments.
The app presents all publicly available heritage dedicated to and related to Saint Blaise, Dubrovnik’s patron saint, such as on the city gates, fortifications, public buildings, churches, monasteries, museums and more.
The virtual tour through includes 64 individual monuments and 3 other categories of heritage related to Dubrovnik, including the once automomous Dubrovnik Republic. Each point of interest is further described by the app and is accompanied by images, text, and geo-locations, the application even goes as far as to capture and work out the shortest path to the point of interest in relation to the current location of the user.
Monuments are available through a list or an interactive map, while an introductory part to familiarise the user with exactly what they’re looking at is presented via audio. The list gives a list of all monuments that are covered by a specific location, and all locations are marked on the map. By moving around the city, the user will receive notifications of nearby points of historical interest picked up by the app, which is enabled by GPS and the Nokia Maps service. As a prerequisite for the proper functionality of the application, the mobile device must have GPS and internet/data access either via WiFi or mobile operator.
The app aims to raise awareness of Saint Blaise and his importance to the city as its protector to tourists. It is available in both Croatian and English language for Android and iOS platforms and was developed in cooperation with the Zagreb based company Novena. The app is free of charge.
