Franciscan Monastery & Museum, Dubrovnik (must see)

Dubrovnik’s Franciscan Monastery is a quiet complex that carries nearly eight centuries of history. A document from 1235 mentions a Franciscan monastery dedicated to Saint Thomas in the suburb of Pile, outside the city walls. Amid growing tensions with King Uroš II of Serbia, the friars decided it would be safer to move inside Dubrovnik’s defenses, and thus, in 1317, they rebuilt the monastery within the city walls. The destructive earthquake of 1667 damaged much of the complex, and the church was restored in the Baroque style seen today.

The monastery unfolds around two elegant cloisters. The upper cloister reflects Renaissance design, with graceful arches and semicircular vaults. The lower cloister is older and combines Romanesque and Gothic elements. Its courtyard is surrounded by galleries supported by double columns, while the carved capitals above them show detailed decorations of plants, animals, and geometric patterns.

This lower cloister was in the early 13th century and remains one of the monastery’s most admired features. It contains 120 columns and twelve large pilasters arranged around the courtyard. At the center stands a fountain and a statue of Saint Francis, creating a calm focal point where monks once gathered.

One of the monastery’s greatest treasures is the Minor Friars Pharmacy. Operational since 1317, it is considered one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe. Inside, visitors can see original cabinets and furnishings crafted in Siena and Florence during the 15th and 16th centuries. Glass jars, instruments, and handwritten prescriptions reveal how medicines were prepared long before modern laboratories.

The monastery museum displays presses, mortars, scales, and even a 14th-century distillation still used to produce medicine. The onsite library preserves copies of medieval manuscripts and chorales, along with paintings by lesser-known masters.

Among the most unusual relics are a 14th-century head of Saint Ursula and a collection of ex-voto jewelry—devotional offerings created from antique elements. Together, these objects show that the monastery served not only as a place of worship, but also as a center of healing, learning, and daily life in medieval Dubrovnik.