Franciscan Monastery

The Franciscan Monastery has stood just inside Pile Gate since 1317, when the friars moved here from outside the walls for their own safety. It is the first thing you meet after entering the Old Town, and if you push through the small side door beside the church you enter one of the most peaceful corners in the city. The 1317 pharmacy in the entrance hall is still dispensing herbal creams and lotions to walk-in customers - the same room, the same trade, seven hundred years on. It is the third-oldest continually operating pharmacy in Europe.

The heart of the complex is the Romanesque cloister of 1360, designed by Mihoje Brajkov of Bar. Sixty double columns, each with a different carved capital, surround a garden of orange trees and a fountain. Off the cloister opens a small museum with 15th-century apothecary jars, illuminated manuscripts, medical instruments and gold liturgical objects. The library holds over 20,000 volumes including 216 incunabula. The whole complex survived the 1667 earthquake because its walls were braced by the city walls behind, and the pharmacy has been continuously staffed ever since.

The church itself is free and open for prayer; the museum, cloister and pharmacy display cost €6. Come early morning when the cloister is quiet and the light angles between the columns. Buy a small tub of the friars' rose cream in the working pharmacy on the way out - it is the closest thing to a genuine Dubrovnik souvenir and locals still swear by it. Combine easily with the walls (whose Pile entrance is 20 metres away) or the Dominican Monastery at the other end of Stradun.

Hours & entry

Not free

Apr-Oct 9:00-18:00 · Nov-Mar 9:00-14:00 · Church free during Mass hours

What to see

• The 1317 pharmacy — Ground floor, right of the entrance hall
• The Romanesque cloister of 1360 — Reached through the museum entrance
• Illuminated manuscripts in the library display — Small room off the cloister's north side

Tips from the ground

• The working pharmacy at the front is free to enter and to browse.
• Buy the €10 friars' rose cream - it is the real thing, made from the recipe used here for centuries.
• First 30 minutes after opening is when the cloister is empty of tour groups.