Guide On Map
Look around first
What to notice
- White stone cross
- Old base
- Simple outlines of the cross
The story of the place
Before you stands a fourteen-meter stone cross. The cross itself was erected in nineteen ninety-seven; its base remains from a monument for which the Dubrovnik bishop Josip Marija Carević had to fight as early as the nineteen thirties.
In nineteen thirty-three, Pope Pius the Eleventh declared the Jubilee of Redemption—nineteen hundred years since the suffering and death of Christ. Bishop Carević wanted to leave a permanent sign of this jubilee above Dubrovnik. The site was chosen at an elevation of about four hundred meters: the cross was meant to be visible from the city as part of the silhouette of Mount Srđ.
The neighbors refused to agree to the construction. Permits were required from the military administration, provincial institutions of Zeta Banovina, and the Ministry of Construction of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The owners of the plot transferred the land to a church brotherhood, city residents raised money, but the approvals took two years. In the end, they chose for the cross a simple design by the young Dubrovnik technician Ugo Vernazza: any extra details would have disappeared at such a height anyway. The white stone was delivered from the island of Hvar.
On June tenth, nineteen thirty-five, thousands of pilgrims carrying eighty banners climbed from Dubrovnik Cathedral to the summit. Carević blessed the cross. After the ceremony, gendarmes—armed state police—blocked the road to the people. Officials regarded the large religious procession as a political demonstration. The bishop stepped before the crowd, spread his arms, and said, “If you are going to shoot, shoot me.” No shots followed. The cross remained on the summit and stood there for fifty-six years.
On December sixth, nineteen ninety-one, artillery fire destroyed it. Restoration was begun by another Dubrovnik bishop, Želimir Puljić. The stonemason Dražen Jakšić donated a new cross, and the Diocese of Hvar provided stone for cladding the base. On October twelfth, nineteen ninety-seven, the monument was blessed again.
A new white cross now rises above the old base, with the same simple outlines once approved so that the sign would be visible far below, from Dubrovnik.
Useful on site
The cross stands in the open air; actual access depends on the weather and the chosen way of getting up Mount Srđ.
Checked: June 30, 2026. Check the official source before visiting.Look at the monument first from a distance, to understand its role in the mountain’s silhouette, and then come closer. In the exposed location, watch for gusts of wind.