Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston
Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston is part of the Tentative list of Croatia in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
This is a cultural landscape comprising the towns of Ston and Mali Ston, the connecting walls, the nature reserve of Mali Ston Bay, Stonsko Polje and the salt pans. The Walls of Ston were an over 7km long structure, built by a Florentine architect in the 15th century. They protected both the towns and the saltworks, the latter being of financial importance for the Dubrovnik Republic. The Mali Ston Bay produces oysters.
Map of Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston
Load mapThe coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.
Community Reviews
Thomas Harold Watson
I visited Ston a few years back and before I knew anything about UNESCO. Whilst driving along the whole coast of the Adriatic Sea I came across this really impressive site, a massive wall that reminded me of the great one in China. I had to stop and walk it. Now visually I didn’t think it was too long of a walk, but boy was I wrong. I went without any water and soon regretted it! In the scorching hot sun walking up oh so many steps I soon realised I had messed up! Luckily some people on their way back walked past and gave me some water and I was able to keep going!
I am pretty sure that not too far from here the Croatian government intends on building a giant bridge so that tourists and locals transiting between Croatias main mainland and the Dubrovnik region without the need to first pass through Bosnia & Herzegovina (who own a tiny tiny bit of beach dividing the two mainlands), so once this has been complete I hope that it becomes a much more touristic spot as it truly deserves it!
Read more from Thomas Harold Watson here.
Tony
Ston and Mali Ston are 2 villages worth visiting on the way to Dubrovnik. It is just a short detour from the road. The 2 villages are connected with 2 walls. The one wall seems to be restored for the moment. I was there well before opening of the walls (around 10 o'clock); so I did not wait to climb them. It looks very steep if you walk between the two villages.
Read more from Tony here.
Hubert
The fortress walls of Ston are sometimes called the "Great Wall of Europe", which is clearly an exaggeration. The wall is about 5 km long and connects ston with Mali Ston on the other side of the hill. It is fun to walk on the wall, from the highest point you have a beautiful view over the salt pans and the bay of Mali Ston. However, I don't think that the site has sufficient outstanding value to get an inscription.
To be honest, we made our detour to Mali Ston not because of the cultural sights but rather for culinary reasons. Because of submarine freshwater springs, the bay is only slightly salty, the water is very clean and almost across the entire bay are maricultures of oysters and mussels. The oysters are smaller than those from the Atlantic, but taste very good. In Mali Ston there are three restaurants offering oysters from the local farms.
Community Likes
Site Info
- Full Name
- Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston
- Country
- Croatia
- Added
- 2005
- Type
- Cultural
- Categories
- Cultural Landscape - Continuing
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2005 Added to Tentative List
Site Links
Visitors
41 Community Members have visited.