The Franciscan monastery is situated at the very beginning of the Stradun to the left of the Pile Gate. The earliest monastery was built in the 13th century in the Pile area. Within the monastery is the world's oldest pharmacy founded in 1317. There is also a rich collection of more than 20,000 valuable books including old manuscripts.

The Franciscan friary is accessed via a narrow passage from St. Savior's Church. Among the earliest surviving features is the south door, designed in 1499 in a Venetian Gothic style and featuring a beautifully carved Pieta in the lunette.

The friary also includes the single-nave St. Francis Church, a 15th-century marble pulpit, and a bell tower. The fine 15th-century cloisters entirely escaped the earthquake and are the most interesting part of the monastery.

The cloisters are late Romanesque with some Gothic elements, and feature double columns topped with human, animal, and plant carvings and a tranquil open garden with a 15th-century fountain in the center. The upper level of the cloisters was built after the 1667 earthquake and is open only to Franciscans.

Also known as the island of kings, Lokrum has its first writing mention in 1023 as the Benedictine abbey and monastery are founded.
According to legend, Richard the Lion-heart shipwrecked in 1192 after returning home from the crusades and found himself cast ashore, safe on Lokrum. He pledged to build a church on the island indebted for the salvation but because of Dubrovnik citizens, the church was not built on Lokrum but in The City instead. That church is still there waiting for your visit.

The only sight on Lokrum is the Benedictine monastery, now in ruins and its Botanical Garden with palm trees and exotic plants. According to legend, the story of the monastery begins in 1192 when Richard the Lionhearted found himself stranded on Lokrum after a tempest. He was so enchanted with the island, he made a generous donation for a monastery on the island.

The Rector's Palace is a combination of architectural styles from different centuries and the inspiration of various architects. Fires, earthquakes, and other disasters required the palace to be renovated or repaired many times. The ever-changing nature of the Rector's Palace makes it a good place to house Dubrovnik's History Museum.

The Rector's palace is a harmonious Gothic and Renaissance palace with certain Baroque additions. The palace owes its present shape to many additions and reconstructions throughout its turbulent history. From time to time it happened that the palace was destroyed or heavily damaged by either fires, gunpowder explosions or earthquakes which required a total or partial reconstruction or repair of the building. Each architect had it's own view of how the building should look so nowadays we can enjoy the unique mixture of styles blended perfectly across this monumental structure.