Rupe Granary

The Rupe Granary, known in Croatian as Rupe, stands at Od Rupa 3 in the old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia, in a quiet district at the south-western edge of the walled city, close to the Church of St Ignatius. It was built in the late 16th century as a public granary of the Republic of Ragusa, and its defining feature is a series of rock-cut grain pits, called koševi, hewn from the bedrock and sealed with stone lids. The pits, estimated at around 15 in the building, kept wheat and other grain dry and cool, and the stock was held as a strategic reserve so that the city could survive long sieges and years of poor harvests. The grain was imported from the Ottoman hinterland and from Apulia and Sicily, and its price was controlled by the state, which sold it to citizens at subsidised rates in periods of scarcity. The building has thick stone walls and a restrained, functional design with large arched openings on the ground floor and a loft above. After its granary role ended, the building was used for other storage and, at the end of the 20th century, was reorganised as a branch of Dubrovnik Museums. It houses the Ethnographic Museum, whose displays cover the traditional life of the Dubrovnik region, including costumes, tools, textiles, agricultural equipment and household items from rural communities. The presentation is thematic, arranged around work, dress and domestic life, and interpretive texts are provided in Croatian and English. The pits themselves remain the most striking exhibit, visible as large circular openings in the floor and walls of the main hall. Conservation work has kept the stone fabric intact, and the building is a calm alternative to the busier museums on the Stradun.