This town is a beautiful place to visit en route to (or as
excursion from) Dubrovnik (Ragusa).
Ston (Stagno) is a fortified town situated
only 5 km far from the Adriatic Highway where the peninsula of Pelješac
(Sabbioncello) is connected with the mainland, 59 km away from Dubrovnik (Ragusa). There are two towns: Ston (Stagno) faces
the open sea and Mali Ston (Stagno Piccolo) in the Neretva Channel. Both towns are
connected with ancient walls (5 km long), with a series of 41 towers and forts. Ston
(Stagno) is one of the most beautiful examples of a fortified town and Ragusean
architecture. Ston (Stagno) is the Roman "Stagnum", it's inscribed in
the "Tabula Peutingeriana" as "Turris Stagni".
The town was founded in 1333 by the
Republic of Ragusa that fortified the place with 5 km long walls, with a series of 41
towers and 7 bastions. From the north-western corner the walls rise to the top of Pozvizd
Hill, where they merge with Pozvizd Fortress and Bartolomeo Fort, and from the
north-eastern corner they follow the line of the isthmus until the walls of Mali Ston
(Stagno Piccolo), where is the Koruna Fortress (1447) a strong fortress with five towers
facing the sea. The most massive fortress of Ston (Stagno), Veliki Kastio, rises on the
south-western corner. The wall east of it was running along the coast which borders with
the saltworks of Ston (Stagno) between the coast and the sea. The huge fortified complex
was built by Ragusa Republic between 1333 and 1506 to protect the salt works which
provided a third of the state's revenue. To the work of fortification participated
Michelozzo Michelozzi, Bernardino da Parma and Giorgio Orsini. Ston (Stagno) remain under
Ragusean control until the fall of the Republic.
The most representative buildings within
the walls are the Chancery of the Ragusa Republic, built in Gothic and Renaissance styles,
Sorkocevic Palace, the former bishop's palace (1573), the Franciscan monastery with its
Gothic-Renaissance style cloister and the Romanesque-Gothic church of St. Nicholas that
date back to 1347, the parish church of the Annunciation that was erected in the 15th
century outside the walls, the well-preserved pre-Romanesque church of St. Michael (9th
c.), with early Romanesque mural paintings rises on the St. Michael hill. There are
several other old churches in the surroundings of Ston, most of them in ruins now. These
are the church of St. Peter with a memorial chapel (probably the first cathedral of Ston),
the church of St. Magdalene on the Gorica hill (sarcophagus, fragments of mural
paintings), that of St. John and St. Stephen and the early Romanesque church of St.
Martin.
The most massive fortress of Ston
(Stagno), Veliki Kastio, it rises on the south-western corner.
Veliki Kastio Fortress, Ston (Stagno).
MALI STON (STAGNO PICCOLO)
Mali
Ston (Stagno Piccolo) is situated in a small cove at the foot of Bartolomija hill.
Founded by the RagusaRepublic in 1334, Mali Ston (Stagno Piccolo) is surrounded by a wall
of almost regular rectangular form. The mainland part of the wall was built in 1336-47 and
the seaward part in 1358, when also the Port Gate together with the statue of St. Blaise
(San Biagio) was erected. On the elevation to the south stands a strong fortification
(with five towers on the mainland side) called Koruna, whose construction began in 1347.
Here begins the Great Wall (Veliki zid) towards Ston, with one section branching off to Fort Pozvizd on the top of the hill of the same name. From here is a unique view of the Ston
region. The port of Mali Ston (Stagno Piccolo) completed in 1490, was built on the model
of the Dubrovnik (Ragusa) city port. There were three arsenals for small warships in the
port. The salt storehouse (Slanica) which has the form of a fortification and stands by
the town wall on the waterfront was built in 1462-1468.
Street, Mali Ston (Stagno
Piccolo).
Koruna fortress, a strong
fortress with five towers facing the sea, Mali Ston (Stagno Piccolo).
