Sponza Palace
The Sponza Palace (Croatian: Palača Sponza), also called Divona (from dogana, customs), is a 16th-century palace in Dubrovnik, Croatia, built in a mixed Gothic and Renaissance style.
It was built between 1516 and 1522, and has served a variety of public functions, including as customs office, treasury, bank, mint and school. The palace became the cultural center of the Republic of Ragusa with the establishment of the Academia dei Concordi, a literary academy, in the 16th century. The palace's atrium served as a trading center and business meetingplace. An inscription on an arch testifies to this public function:
- Fallere nostra venant et falli pondera. Meque pondero cum merces ponderat ipse deus.
- "Our weights do not permit cheating. When I measure goods, God measures with me."
The palace is now home to the city archives. The square before it is used for the opening ceremony of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.
References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sponza Palace. |
- "Sponza Palace". City of Dubrovnik. Retrieved 29 July 2014.