Ploče and Revelin Fortress's Stone Shield

From the road from Ploče to the eastern gate, the route runs into Revelin Fortress's heavy quadrangular mass. It was set forward to protect both the entrance to the city and the approach to the harbor; this is what a separate fortress placed in front of a gate is called. In the middle of the sixteenth century, the earlier defensive section, together with the houses of the employees, was enclosed within a new stone structure designed for artillery warfare. Inside, archaeologists uncovered cisterns, house facades, and foundry furnaces, while concerts and performances are now held above the preserved large furnace.

In fifteen oh four, the founder Ivan Krstitelj Rabljanin petitioned Dubrovnik's senators for the post of master of cannons and bells. He had arrived from the island of Rab and claimed that he had studied under renowned founders from childhood, knew how to make guns for fortresses and galleys, and could cast molds for cannonballs. Assurances alone were not enough. The senators gave him a house and a workshop in the old Revelin Fortress, but agreed to appoint him permanently only after the first cannon had been tested.

Revelin Fortress looked different then. Here, in front of the eastern Ploče Gate, stood a fortified section in the middle of a moat, with several houses for employees of the Republic of Ragusa. Ploče is the name of the eastern suburb to which the gate opened. The road into the Balkans passed through it. Construction of the lower fortification began in fourteen sixty-three, when Ottoman troops captured neighboring Bosnia. It protected both the land entrance and the approach to the harbor. The name “Revelin” refers precisely to such a fortification set out in front of a gate; the military term “ravelin” comes from the same word.

For the test cannon, Rabljanin was given an old ship's mast. It became the core of the mold around which the master prepared the casting. The result was a long culverin—four meters forty-nine centimeters long and weighing more than two tons. On the barrel Rabljanin placed St. Blaise and his own name, and he made the bore spiral, although most guns of that time remained smooth.

The cannon was tested in fifteen oh five. It withstood the shot, and Rabljanin was appointed the Republic's chief founder. The house in Revelin Fortress was repaired at the city's expense. Four years later, the visiting master was admitted to the prestigious merchant Confraternity of St. Anthony and recognized as a full citizen of Dubrovnik. His workshop produced guns for the city's fortifications, private vessels, Southern Italy, and Spain; his sons continued their father's trade. The first culverin survived and is now in Vienna. A city bell cast here still strikes the hours on Dubrovnik's tower.

The massive quadrangular Revelin Fortress in front of the gate appeared only toward the end of Rabljanin's life. In fifteen thirty-eight, the senators instructed the military engineer Antonio Ferramolino to close off this approach with a fortress designed for artillery warfare. Construction began the following year. The foundryman's house was demolished, and the old fortification was enclosed within a new stone structure. Rabljanin died in fifteen forty, when the work was only getting underway.

During excavations inside Revelin Fortress, archaeologists found the facades of the earlier houses, cisterns, and two foundry furnaces. The large furnace was left in place. Above it are now halls and terraces where concerts and performances are held; beneath them, the workshop of the man who was first given housing until his first successful shot has survived.