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Old City of Dubrovnik

Europe, Croatia · Cultural site · UNESCO World Heritage property #95

Moderate ConcernConfidence: Supportedas of October 14, 2026

Significance

UNESCO describes Dubrovnik as a Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century that kept its Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains despite severe earthquake damage in 1667. UNESCO also notes it was damaged again in the 1990s during armed conflict and became the focus of a UNESCO-coordinated restoration programme. It was inscribed in 1979 under cultural criteria (i), (iii) and (iv); UNESCO's property page lists a boundary modification in 1994 and a minor boundary modification inscribed in 2018.

Current Status Rationale

Historical damage is documented in the site's record, but the current classification is based on present conditions and the most recent credible evidence. The 6 December 1991 shelling, found by the ICTY Trial Chamber to have caused damage to 52 of 116 specified buildings and structures in the Old Town (six destroyed), and the 1991-1998 Danger List period belong in the timeline. The present picture is of a heavily visited, actively managed World Heritage property. The Committee's 2025 decision (47 COM 7B.102) welcomes the State Party's commitment and acknowledges progress in management systems, sustainability and public awareness, while still asking for outstanding documents (Conservation Plan, tourism strategy, final Carrying Capacity Assessment, risk plan) and project updates. The State Party's own 2024 periodic report names high visitor numbers as the major impact factor and concludes that authenticity and integrity are preserved and Outstanding Universal Value maintained. Visitor management measures exist (city-gate counting, cruise limits, Respect the City), but sources differ on the cruise cap and the Committee has not said they are sufficient. Seismic exposure is documented by academic studies but UNESCO marks the 1996 earthquake as resolved. These are chronic, monitored pressures rather than an acute emergency, which is what Moderate Concern describes. Confidence is Supported rather than Confirmed: the Committee decision and UNESCO working document corroborate each other, but the 2026 state-of-conservation position is unknown (no 2026 Dubrovnik decision was found, the next report is due 1 December 2026), visitor and cruise figures come from sources of varying date and scope, and the current condition of the City Walls was not established. Confidence does not alter the status.

Conservation or other pressures are documented, but without imminent risk to the site. Credible sources support this status, with some limits on corroboration.

Threat Categories

Conservation / Structural

The documented pressures are management and visitor-related rather than acute damage. (1) Tourism and carrying capacity: the 2024 periodic report submitted by the State Party (Cycle 3, Section II) includes the comment 'High level of visitation is the major impact factor' (the sentence is left unfinished in the report); the Cycle 3 text does not itself tag tourism impacts as current or negative. The joint UNESCO/ICOMOS mission of November 2015 reported approximately one million cruise tourists a year, peak days of 8,000 visitors (up to 10,000 on some days), and recommended that daily cruise visitors 'should not exceed 8,000 tourists per day'. Since then the city has introduced measures: Reuters reported in August 2018 that the city's 2017 'Respect the City' plan aimed to limit cruise visitors in the Old Town to 4,000 at any given moment, and a European Commission page (undated) says the city 'limits the number of daily cruise visitors to 4,500 or two ships at a time'. The figures given by different sources are 8,000 cruise visitors per day (2015 mission recommendation), 4,000 cruise visitors at any one moment (2018 plan aim), 4,500 daily cruise visitors or two ships (undated EC page, wording ambiguous) and, reportedly, 8,000 people in the Old Town at one time (2025 Interreg summary). They appear to measure different things (per day versus at one moment; cruise visitors versus all visitors) and none of the sources explains how they relate, so this dossier does not treat any one of them as the current enforced limit. A 2025 article by the Interreg Europe TIB project summarising a presentation by Dr Tina Segota (University of Maribor) reportedly states that cameras at the city gates have tracked visitor numbers since 2017 (reportedly enforcing a cap of 8,000 people in the Old Town at one time) and that more than half of the Old Town population has left in recent years; that article is a secondary summary and its figures were not independently verified. (2) Planning documents still outstanding: in decisions 44 COM 7B.42 (2021) and 45 COM 7B.180 (2023) the Committee asked for a Conservation Plan for the Historic Core and a sustainable tourism and carrying capacity study, and in decision 47 COM 7B.102 (2025) the Committee reiterated its request for the forthcoming Conservation Plan and the Strategy for Integrated Sustainable Tourism Management, asked for the final draft of the Preparedness and Risk Management Plan before adoption, and encouraged submission of the final two-phased Carrying Capacity Assessment. The UNESCO document WHC/25/47.COM/7B.Add.2.Corr.2 states that the first phase of the Carrying Capacity Assessment is complete and that Conservation Plan preparation began in September 2023 with completion expected by March 2026; whether that plan has since been submitted was not established. (3) Physical fabric and projects: the Committee acknowledged ongoing cleaning and restoration of the sewage channels (2025). In 2016 (40 COM 7B.50) the Committee expressed concern about inappropriate conservation works on all parts of the City Walls, following the 2015 mission's finding that new pointing and capping used cement rather than lime mortar; in 2018 (42 COM 7B.20) it noted positive steps, including an action plan for repairing the inappropriate interventions to the walls. The 2025 decision requests updates on an airport bypass road and a structure in the buffer zone, the Pustijerna archaeological site and the Bosanka 2 project, which UNESCO's document describes as on hold with no change since 2022. The sources read for this pass do not show the current state of the City Walls repairs. The 2025 decision and its working document do not describe any acute damage event.

First identified: Not established — Chronic, multi-year concerns raised across successive Committee decisions. The earliest dated item in this dossier is the UNESCO/ICOMOS mission of 27 October to 1 November 2015; no single start date is claimed.

Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS, UNESCO World Heritage Centre (report submitted by the State Party, Croatia), Euronews (republishing Reuters), European Commission (Smart Tourism Capital initiative), Interreg Europe, Tourism in Balance (TIB) project

Natural Disaster

Earthquake exposure is documented as a background hazard, not as a current unresolved problem. The 2015 UNESCO/ICOMOS mission report says strong earthquakes occurred in 1979, 1994 and 1995 and that strong earthquakes are expected on average about every 28 years; it found restored monuments had been made earthquake-resistant but recommended a Risk-Preparedness Action Plan including evacuation procedures. UNESCO's 2025 working document marks the September 1996 earthquake as resolved and reports no new physical damage, while the Committee noted progress on the Preparedness and Risk Management Plan. In the State Party's periodic report, earthquake is tagged 'Potential, Negative' only in the earlier Cycle 2 answers (3 October 2014); the Cycle 3 text shows no selection for it but lists anti-seismic strengthening of historic buildings in the core zone as an ongoing management action. Academic work documents building-level vulnerability: a 2023 open-access study in Buildings (Uzair et al.) of the 18th-century Jesuit College found that retrofitting is needed in several zones, with out-of-plane bending of vulnerable walls at low peak ground acceleration; this is one building, not the whole property. A Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar-led project (SeisRICHerCRO, 2021-2025) reports an urban-scale seismic-risk assessment of the Old City with a higher-risk zone in the middle of the city linked to soil conditions. No earthquake damage to the property since 1996 was found in the sources read.

First identified: Not established — Chronic seismic exposure; the dated earthquakes cited (1979, 1994, 1995, September 1996) are historical and are not treated as a current damage event.

Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS, UNESCO World Heritage Centre (report submitted by the State Party, Croatia), UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Buildings (MDPI), Uzair, Abrahamczyk, Vrban and Penava, Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, Chair of Advanced Structures

Environmental / Climate

Evidence is limited. The State Party's 2024 periodic report (Cycle 3) states that occasional heavy rainfall events have a negative impact, being addressed through sewerage restoration. Storms and wildfire appear as 'Potential, Negative' (outside the property) only in the earlier Cycle 2 answers of 3 October 2014; the Cycle 3 text shows no selection for them but lists a disaster risk management plan for cultural heritage as a management action. The sources read do not attribute any of these to climate change or document damage from them, and no climate-change assessment of the property was found; UNESCO's 2025 working document, as read, does not address climate. This category is included because documented hazards exist (heavy rainfall impacts reported; storms and wildfire only as potential hazards in 2014 answers), and carries low weight in the status.

First identified: Not established — Hazards listed in the 2014 and 2024 periodic reports; no start date applies.

Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre (report submitted by the State Party, Croatia)

Historical Timeline

  1. 1991
    Old City of Dubrovnik placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger

    At its 15th session (decision 15 COM XV.F) the Committee inscribed the property on the Danger List, citing a 'state of exceptional emergency caused by the armed conflict'. The exact session date within 1991 was not retrieved.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  2. 1991-12-06
    Shelling of the Old Town of Dubrovnik

    The ICTY Trial Chamber in the Strugar case found that the Old Town was subjected to extensive, deliberate and indiscriminate shelling by JNA forces on 6 December 1991, from about 5:50 a.m. until a little after 4:30 p.m., with no military objectives there targeted. Of 116 specified buildings and structures, 52 were damaged and six of those destroyed. The Chamber noted the Old Town had been entered on the World Heritage List in its entirety in 1979.

    Sources: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

  3. 1996-09
    Earthquake affects Dubrovnik

    UNESCO's state-of-conservation page lists an earthquake of September 1996 among factors identified in previous reports, marked as resolved, and records a UNESCO fact-finding mission in November 1996. Separately, the page records a postwar major restoration programme coordinated by UNESCO totalling USD 80 million (not specifically linked to the earthquake). The sources read do not give damage details for the 1996 earthquake.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  4. 1998-12-01
    Property removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger

    At the 22nd session (decision 22 COM VIII.2), announced in Kyoto, the Committee deleted the Old City of Dubrovnik from the Danger List. UNESCO's decisions page records that Croatia had submitted a substantive state-of-conservation report and that ICOMOS had given positive advice on the restoration works; UNESCO's news item cites the success of measures for restoration and preservation, and says the Croatian government had restored cloister facades, repaired roofs and rebuilt palaces, with a UNESCO contribution of US$300,000.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  5. 2005-01-31
    ICTY Trial Chamber judgement in Prosecutor v. Strugar

    The Trial Chamber found Pavle Strugar guilty under Article 7(3) of two counts, attacks on civilians and destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education (as the ICTY information sheet words it), and sentenced him to 8 years' imprisonment. It found he was not guilty of ordering or aiding and abetting the shelling; he was held liable as a superior under Article 7(3).

    Sources: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

  6. 2008-07-17
    ICTY Appeals Chamber judgement in Strugar

    The Appeals Chamber accepted two Prosecution grounds and entered new convictions for devastation not justified by military necessity and unlawful attacks on civilian objects, dismissed several of Strugar's arguments and his fifth ground of appeal, and reduced the sentence to seven and a half years, citing his deteriorating health, per the ICTY case information sheet.

    Sources: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

  7. 2015-10-27/2015-11-01
    Joint UNESCO/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission

    The mission (report dated November 2015) reported approximately one million cruise tourists a year, peak days of 8,000 visitors, cement used in new pointing and capping on the City Walls contrary to best practice, cracks in the base of the Orlando Column, an urgent need for sewer repairs, no Management Plan yet in place, and strong earthquakes expected on average about every 28 years. It recommended that daily cruise visitors not exceed 8,000 and that the Bosanka 2 project not proceed.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS

  8. 2016
    World Heritage Committee decision 40 COM 7B.50 on Dubrovnik

    The Committee expressed concern about inappropriate conservation works on all parts of the City Walls and asked Croatia to repair damage, develop best-practice guidelines and monitor the walls. It endorsed the 2015 mission recommendations, including a management plan with a tourism strategy, cruise ship regulations and carrying-capacity assessment, and asked that the Bosanka 2 project and the Lazaretto quay not proceed. It judged that the Mount Srd and Bosanka resort proposals, could have an acceptable impact on Outstanding Universal Value, subject to design refinements and conditions.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  9. 2023
    World Heritage Committee decision 45 COM 7B.180 on Dubrovnik

    At its extended 45th session the Committee welcomed completion of the Buffer Zone part of the Conservation Plan and the property's Management Plan, asked for a Conservation Plan for the Historic Core, a Sustainable Tourism Development and Carrying Capacity study, a Disaster Risk Management Plan and an Interpretation Strategy, and noted reported actions under memoranda of understanding with the Cruise Lines International Association and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  10. 2025-07
    World Heritage Committee decision 47 COM 7B.102 on Dubrovnik

    At its 47th session (6-16 July 2025, per UNESCO's working document) the Committee welcomed the State Party's commitment, noted progress, reiterated its request for the Conservation Plan and the Strategy for Integrated Sustainable Tourism Management, requested the final draft of the Preparedness and Risk Management Plan before adoption, acknowledged ongoing sewage-channel restoration, requested updates on the airport bypass, Pustijerna and Bosanka 2, and asked for an updated state-of-conservation report by 1 December 2026 for the 49th session. The decision text as read does not warn of danger listing.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  11. 2026
    Retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value adopted

    In decision 48 COM 8E (2026) the Committee adopted retrospective Statements of Outstanding Universal Value for four properties, including the Old City of Dubrovnik. No Dubrovnik state-of-conservation decision for 2026 appears on UNESCO's documents page for the property.

    Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Digital Preservation Index

Overall coverage: Moderate — Documented in several categories, with some notable gaps.

Two of five categories have publicly viewable evidence that was opened in this pass, which gives the moderate tier. Photographic: UNESCO's gallery (institutional photos). Academic: open-access peer-reviewed work and a university-led research project on the Old City's seismic risk. Not marked: archival_records (UNESCO's documents page lists maps, ICOMOS evaluations and mission reports, but those are UNESCO's own reporting documents rather than a digitised archive of the site; the State Archives in Dubrovnik hold records of the Dubrovnik Republic, but public digitised access was not confirmed), 3d_documentation (no viewable 3D model of the Old City was found), and virtual_tour (only a single third-party 360-degree panorama of the Rector's Palace was seen, which is not a tour of the property and is not counted). Coverage may be higher than found; this reflects what was publicly findable in this pass.

Law and commitments

Sources