Lopud

Ancient origins: the islands of the deer

Lopud, the central island of the Elafiti, has been inhabited since antiquity. The name of the archipelago, 'Elafiti', comes from the Greek elaphos, 'deer', and is already mentioned by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century, which shows that these islands off the Dalmatian coast were known to the sailors of the ancient Mediterranean. Before Rome, the region belonged to the Illyrian world; afterwards it was absorbed into the Roman province of Dalmatia, and on Lopud, as on the neighbouring islands, there were settlements and villas that made use of the fertile land and the strategic position on the Adriatic sea routes. After the end of the Western Roman Empire, the area passed into the Byzantine orbit and saw, between the 7th and 9th centuries, the arrival of Slavic populations who settled and mixed with the earlier inhabitants. Little by little, Lopud's fate became tied to that of the neighbouring city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), whose influence would grow to take in all the Elafiti.

The heyday under the Republic of Ragusa

Under the Republic of Ragusa, to which it belonged for centuries, Lopud went through a period of remarkable prosperity, above all between the 15th and 16th centuries. Despite its small size, the island became an important maritime centre: it supplied the Ragusan fleet with a great many captains, shipowners, shipbuilders and sailors, and some of the Republic's most distinguished navigators came from here. The wealth generated by maritime trade translated into an extraordinary flowering of the island. Lopud came to be densely populated — it is reckoned to have had several thousand inhabitants at its peak, many more than today — and filled up with churches, chapels, palaces and grand residences. The churches built or funded by its shipowners are counted in the dozens, testimony to the community's faith and fortune. In those centuries the island was one of the richest and most dynamic corners of the small Ragusan state.

The Franciscan monastery and the defences against pirates

The most emblematic monument of that splendour is the Franciscan monastery of St Mary of Špilica, Our Lady of the Cave, founded in the 15th century above the village bay. It was not only a religious centre: it was built as a fortified complex, with walls and towers able to withstand attacks by the pirates and corsairs who ravaged the Adriatic, a constant threat to the islands. Alongside the monastery, the island also defended itself with hilltop fortresses, such as the Sutvrač fort — also known as Španjola — whose remains still crown a hill above the village and give sweeping views of the sea and of Dubrovnik. These buildings reflect the double nature of the Lopud of the day: a prosperous, devout island, but also an exposed one, which had to protect itself and its wealth. The religious and defensive heritage that survives — the restored monastery, the many churches, the remains of the forts — makes up one of the richest historical ensembles on any of the Elafiti islands.

From decline to fashionable seaside resort

The fall of the Republic of Ragusa in 1808, in the context of the Napoleonic wars, marked the start of Lopud's decline, as it did for so many other islands nearby. With the end of Ragusan maritime trade and the subsequent incorporation into the Austrian empire, the island lost much of its population and its activity, and many of its houses and churches fell silent. Yet at the end of the 19th century and above all in the first decades of the 20th, Lopud found a new life as a summer destination and fashionable seaside resort. Its mild climate, its exotic vegetation and, above all, its unusual sandy beach at Šunj — a rarity on a coast of stone — drew travellers and the middle classes of the day. Hotels were built, among them a grand hotel that became a symbol of the elegant tourism of those years, and the island earned a reputation as a distinguished, quiet retreat. The Đorđić-Mayneri park, with its subtropical planting, is another heir to that taste for gardens and genteel summers.

Lopud today: a pedestrian island between heritage and beach

The 20th century brought Lopud the same transformations as the rest of the region: absorption into Yugoslavia after the two world wars, progressive depopulation and, finally, Croatian independence in 1991. Nearby Dubrovnik endured the siege of the war of independence in the early nineties, and the whole region was slow to recover, but the return of peace and the later tourism boom gave Lopud a prominent role again. Today the island, with a little over two hundred permanent residents, lives essentially from tourism. Its car-free status, its sandy beach at Šunj, its heritage of churches and monasteries and its quiet atmosphere have made it one of the favourite destinations for a day away from Dubrovnik or for a peaceful stay. In recent years, moreover, the restoration of the Franciscan monastery and of some of its historic buildings has strengthened its cultural appeal. Lopud thus strikes an uncommon balance: a small island that combines the rest of a seaside resort with the depth of centuries of maritime and religious history.

📚 Bibliography

• Wikipedia (EN) — «Lopud»: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lopud
• Wikipedia (EN) — «Elaphiti Islands»: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaphiti_Islands
• Wikipedia (EN) — «Republic of Ragusa»: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ragusa
• Enciclopedia Croata (Hrvatska enciklopedija) — «Lopud»: https://www.enciklopedija.hr/
• Turismo de Dubrovnik y la Riviera (TZ Dubrovnik): https://www.experiencedubrovnik.com/