The UNESCO World Heritage Centre is relieved that the wildfires around the city of Dubrovnik (Croatia) are now under control and would like to pay tribute to the firefighters who fought the blaze. Reports from Dubrovnik indicate that the Old City, designated a World Heritage site in 1979 and then extended in 1994, was untouched by the fire.
The situation was particularly dangerous during the night of 5 August when the fire threatened Ploče in the eastern part of Dubrovnik, some thousand meters away from the historic centre of the city and its buffer zone. UNESCO remains in close contact with the authorities and the Ministry for Culture of Croatia for further information.
Situated on the Dalmatian coast and known as the 'Pearl of the Adriatic', the Old City of Dubrovnik is the site of beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. The site was damaged in the 1990s by armed conflict, and was the focus of a major restoration programme co-ordinated by UNESCO.
