Big Onofrio Fountain

The Big Onofrio Fountain stands on Poljana Paska Milicevica just inside Pile Gate, at the western end of Stradun in the Old Town of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The sixteen-sided domed fountain was completed in 1438 by the Neapolitan architect Onofrio della Cava, who designed it as the endpoint of a roughly 12 km aqueduct bringing spring water from Sumet, a project that gave the Republic of Ragusa a dependable public water supply. Each of the sixteen faces is decorated with a carved mask, or mascaron, from which water flows, and the fountain originally had a more elaborate upper section that was damaged in the 1667 earthquake. The building was also hit by shelling during the siege of 1991-92, and the damage was later repaired. The fountain still supplies cool drinking water, and visitors commonly fill bottles from the spouts, a welcome service in the heat of summer. The square around it is the first open space visitors reach after Pile Gate, so it serves as a meeting point and a good place to orient before heading along Stradun. A visit takes about 10 minutes for photographs and a drink. It is open at all hours and free, and the structure is best seen in the morning when sunlight lights the dome and before tour groups crowd the steps. The fountain sits directly beside the Franciscan Monastery and the entrance to the City Walls, so many visitors combine them. A smaller counterpart, the Little Onofrio Fountain, stands at the other end of Stradun near Luza Square and is worth comparing. For photography, the best angle is from the steps near the monastery looking back at the gate, or at dusk when the stone glows. Visitors should be aware that the area is crowded in midday summer and that pickpockets operate in dense crowds.