Sponza Palace may have originally been intended as Dubrovnik’s custom’s house, but this opulent building took on a variety of roles. Completed in 1522, it formed a vital part of the city’s identity as a trading hub, housing at different times, a treasury and a mint, later becoming Dubrovnik’s cultural centre. Its survival of the 1667 earthquake is a testament to the strength of its engineering. Today, Sponza Palace is a fitting home for Dubrovnik’s archives and is the setting for the Memorial of the Defenders of Dubrovnik, a powerful commemoration of those who perished in the 1990’s.