Tvrđava Minčeta

This guide to Tvrđava Minčeta in Dubrovnik centers on Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, the Florentine architect behind the Medici Palace, who arrived in 1461 to rebuild this corner of the walls after the fall of Constantinople made every Adriatic fortress look obsolete. He wrapped the old Menčetić watchtower, named for the family that once owned this ground, inside a new round shell built to shrug off cannon fire. A gunpowder store then exploded nearby and damaged the Rector's Palace, drawing the same architect into a second commission for the same senators. Look up at the tower's crowning battlements and consider how many hands it took to finish this six-metre-thick wall.