Lokrum Island and Dubrovnik, Croatia |
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Lokrum or Lacroma, one of more than a 1000 islands in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia, is about 1km to the southeast of Dubrovnik and faces the Dubrovnik suburb of Ploce. The name Lokrum comes from the Latin, 'acrumen', meaning sour fruit. The Benedictines founded an abbey on Lokrum in 1023 which was later destroyed by the earthquake of 1667. The last Benedictines left the island in 1798. The Austrian archduke (and Emperor of Mexico) Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg built a mansion (summer palace) on the island in 1859. The island was originally purchased by Maximilian's wife Archduchess Charlotte of Austria, with part of her marriage dowry, and she retained ownership of the island even after she and her husband became Emperor and Empress of Mexico. After the Emperor Maximilian's execution by Mexican insurgents in 1867 the island was surrendered to the Habsburg family in a deal struck between Franz Joseph I of Austria and Leopold II of Belgium. Emperor Franz Josef’s son Rudolf wintered on the island to soothe his bronchial chest. The island was given to Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria as part of her marriage dowry. Yugoslavia claimed the island under the Treaty of Saint-Germain. According to legend, Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked on Lokrum in 1192 on his way back from leading the third crusade. At the summit of Lokrum is Fort Royal, a gun position built in 1808 during the Napoleonic French occupation. The monastry now serves as a Natural History Museum complimented by a botanical garden of subtropical plants. There is a small museum dedicated to the Dubrovnik mathematician and astronomer Rudjer Boskovic whose birthplace is next to Dubrovnik’s Sponza Palace. The island is also inhabited by families of peacocks.
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