Dubrovnik

May 29
Friday morning we started the morning very early and loaded the bus on the way to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a city situated along the coast about 3 hours away from Makarska and we had to go through Bosnia to get there. We were given a brief history of the city. Dubrovnik was founded by refugees, but has a much more interesting history than that. To maintain peace in their city, they paid off other countries to leave them alone. The city is noted for heavy promotion of freedom and liberty. Dubrovnik was more interested in trade than territorial conquest and is also noted for progressive ideas for systems of governance.

There was (and still is) a fountain in the middle of the walled portion of the city and anyone was allowed to come and get clean water. A statue also stands inside the city walls that has a very important role for those not of nobility or wealth. The statue is a man, but that is not the interesting part. On the bottom of the statue, on one side only, there is a line carved in the stone. This line looks like it is part of the statue, so it is very easy to miss. The significance of the line is that it was used for people to measure their bought goods. People who were members of the peasant class were often short-changed on their cloth purchases because they didn’t know how much a specific measurement was supposed to be. The line was etched in the statue to allow these peasant people to come and measure their purchased goods and contest with the seller that they were indeed short changed.

Dubrovnik was heavily attacked in the Homeland War like Vukovar. They were attacked from the sea and because the attacks were so intense, this is actually the place that put Croatia on the worldwide map. There was a public outcry about the city being destroyed because of the cease-fire from 1992-1995 in the rest of the country, but there were bombings still occurring in Dubrovnik. Many of the old historical buildings and relics of the town were destroyed. There was terror among the people because random bombings still occurred during this time and made it unsafe for the citizens.

Dubrovnik was one of the first cities to recognize the United States independence and supported the country in their efforts to promote freedom and liberty.

As far as public health goes, Dubrovnik was well ahead of others concerning infectious diseases. Dubrovnik initialized the first systematic quarantine in 1337 because of the plague. They were realizing how the disease was being spread from ships coming into the ports bringing in vermin and fleas and separated out potential exposures as well as complete cases of the plague. Quarantine is when people are kept separate from the general population that have been exposed to the infection until they present with symptoms. This was utilized at the sea ports. Isolation is separating out people who have specific diseases from the general population, such as the plague or lepers. The public health office looked at data from registries of ships in 1337 and realized that more people equaled more diseases. Caravans and travelers came through Dubrovnik and had to swear that they had not been in an area exposed to the plague for two months. The place where people were traveling from determined the length of their quarantine, lasting from days up until months for some areas. This initialization of quarantine stopped the plague from being endemic in the area. The model was utilized in other parts of Europe because of how effective it was at controlling the spread of disease. The program was based on real data and it still heavily utilized in times today, such as the recent scare of the H1N1 Flu.

During our time in Dubrovnik, we toured a small museum of the “Defenders of Dubrovnik” from the Homeland war and visited the City Hall to meet with a local city planner. The speaker talked to us about urban planning for the city of Dubrovnik. The designer of the city wanted everything in a block and this model was utilized in other parts of the world after Dubrovnik was designed. The designer for Washington D.C. visited Dubrovnik to see how a city could be put in grids on a sloping land. We also discussed Manhattan and Philadelphia’s city layout, and Dubrovnik had small roles in their implementation as well.

The rest of the time we were in Dubrovnik we had free time to explore. Many students walked the outside city walls and saw how the city was during ancient times, as well as how life is there today. The city wall provided the students with amazing landscape photos.
-Rachel

Split

Today we visited Split, a city with a rich Roman history including its most famous attraction, Diocletian’s palace. Diocletian was an emperor of the Roman Empire and upon being one of the only emperors in history to step down from office, he built his palace which remains today in Split. Being my first time traveling to Europe, I am amazed by how many historic structures remain, and by how well preserved they are. Along with our previous stops in Istria, including the amphitheater in Pula, Split reminds me of the significant influence that Romans had in many areas of Croatia. This is significant to public health because the Romans were innovators in many areas of public health, realizing the link between exposure and resulting disease. This is an example of how early public health efforts were conducted, using trial and error and simple observations. These observations lead the Romans to develop aqueducts for providing clean water, sewer systems to remove contact with waste and to create public baths for cleanliness. Ancient Romans believed that the main goals of life were health, beauty, and happiness, and baths became a central part of the Roman life. These baths, many of them public, were places for more than just bathing. They often included attached gymnasiums and were central social meeting spots. These baths were precursors to the health and wellness spas that are found throughout Europe today.

Some of these innovations can be seen today inside Diocletian’s palace, including in the basement where remains of the plumbing infrastructure are on display. The ancient Romans used aqueducts to pull water into the city, not using the common lead pipes of the day, because they realized from trial and error that lead made them sick. Walking through the basement of Diocletian’s palace, I couldn’t help but wonder if .there may be health implications from breathing the air. While an interesting sight, there was a lot of moisture and mold growing on many of the walls. I tried to discover if regular air quality checks were conducted to see if it was safe for the many tourist, while unable to find an exact answer I have doubts. This mold combined with possible radon from the stone and rocks of the basement could have significant respiratory health implications if at high enough levels.

After an afternoon of touring the palace and surrounding areas, we finished the day in Split with a visit to the former home and museum of renowned artist Ivan Mestrovic. One of the best known artists in the region, the works of Mestrovic can be seen throughout Croatia, including the statue of Nikola Tesla in downtown Zagreb. Nikola Tesla is an important Croatian figure and is known as the discoverer of AC electrical current and radio waves.
-Ben