(Dubrovnik, 1549 – Dubrovnik, 24 January 1610) The time of Late Renaissance (16th c.) in Croatia produced an abundance of works and authors, who were not recognized only locally, but in a broader European cultural context. Centres of philosophical thought in Croatia were primarily cities on the Dalmatian coast. So, in Dubrovnik we encounter philosophers Miho Monaldi, Antun Medo and, as the most important, Nikola Gučetić (Gozze).
Junije Restić
(Dubrovnik, 14 December 1672 – Dubrovnik, 8 September 1735) One of the phenomena in the 18th century Croatian literary historiography were historical records such as memoirs, diaries and chronicles. After the 17th century and great names of Croatian historiography, like Ivan Lučić (Lucius) from Trogir and Pavle Ritter Vitezović from Senj, the 18th century represented somewhat of a stagnation. However, the case of Dubrovnik and its historian Junije Restić (Resti) nevertheless represented a step forward.
Filip De Diversis
(?, beginning of the 15th c. – ?, after 1455) The praise of cities (laudes civitatum) occupies a special place in medieval literary genres. The point of these works was not just the description of cities, which thematically followed mostly one formal sequence, but also personal impression that was an equally important and essential element to get the comprehensive idea of the city. For this reason, the author of the lauda had to be a person who had a publicly recognized authority.
Benedikt Kotruljević
(Dubrovnik, c. 1416 – Aquila or Naples, 1469) “It has been more than 110 years since patrician Benedikt Kotruljević of Dubrovnik, a man of expert scientific knowledge and an experienced merchant, wrote four books on the subject that, as he warned, nobody ever addressed since the beginning of time, i.e. the trading skill.” Thus, in 1573, the renowned Croatian philosopher Frane Petrić started his introduction to the printed edition of On Trade and the Perfect Merchant by Benedikt Kotruljević of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik and commerce always represented an indivisible union, and the Ragusan Republic owed its progress in the “golden age” of the 15th and 16th centuries precisely to the affirmation of trade.
Bartol Kašić
(Pag, 15 August 1575 – Rome, 28 December 1650) After the Reformation movement undermined the unity of the Western Christendom, Rome was forced to look for a new way to reform itself. It was the way of the affirmation of language, spoken by the living people, the so-called “vernacular language.” By carefully starting to teach and educate a wide range of uneducated people, Rome turned towards nations that inhabited the peripheral regions in eastern and south-eastern Europe, that remained faithful to the Catholic church during the Reformation.
Vlaho Obuljen Slijepi (The Blind)
(Dubrovnik, 27 September 1837 – Dubrovnik, 16 January 1907) The figure of a blind street singer, amateur-actor, singer of kolenda traditional Christmas carols and a street merchant, certainly deserves a place in the gallery of idiosyncratic Dubrovnik characters. He was a person who lived, seemingly, on the “margins” of Dubrovnik society, but who definitely left an indelible mark in his time. The scant information we have about his life tells us that he spent a poverty-stricken childhood with a mother who was originally from Malta – so they called him Vlaho Maltez, his father was a mariner and he had two sisters. In the first months of his life he suffered from seborrheic dermatitis, and because of poverty and incorrect treatment it resulted in permanent blindness.
Ludomir Michal Rogowski
(Lublin, 3 October 1881 – Dubrovnik, 13 March 1954) Polish conductor, composer and writer, graduated from the department of conducting and composition in Warsaw, and then continued his education in Leipzig, Munich and Rome. He moved to Vilnius where he formed a symphony orchestra and was its principal conductor for several years, and then he moved to Paris. He soon became an internationally renowned composer and his works were performed in Paris, Brussels, but also New York, Warsaw and Prague.
Šišmundo Menčetić Vlahović
(Dubrovnik, 27 February 1457 – Dubrovnik, July 1527) Šišmundo (Šiško) Menčetić Vlahović was a Dubrovnik patrician who had an extremely debauched youth. He took part in many urban street incidents, he harassed women and his name was frequently mentioned in court files in the Dubrovnik archive. He also answered in court for his (mis)deeds. When he was forty years old he got married, changed his behaviour and, as a patrician, served the Dubrovnik Republic in many capacities.
Orsat Medo Pucić
(Dubrovnik, 12 March 1821 – Dubrovnik, 30 June 1882) Medo Pucić (Pozza) was a Dubrovnik patrician, writer and politician, one of the most prominent Ragusans of his time, and an important Croatian cultural and literary figure during the period of the Croatian national revival in the middle of the 19th century. He was born in Dubrovnik in 1821, where he finished primary school and continued his education in the territory of contemporary Austria. He studied in Venice at the Lyceum of St. Catherine, and then went on to study law in Padua and Vienna.
Nikola Nalješković
(Dubrovnik, c. 1505 – Dubrovnik, 1587) Nikola Nalješković, nicknamed Živon, was born in Dubrovnik in a wealthy plebeian merchant family between 1505 and 1508. Having lost his father to plague in 1527, he assumed family responsibilities as a young man but was unsuccessful as a merchant, which lead him into bankruptcy. He struggled with financial problems all his life, and he was a scholar in astronomy and mathematics.