Abandoned Rasica Hotel- Dubrovnik
Wow. Just Wow. We happened upon this magical and mystical place walking home from old town one afternoon. The gates to the property on the side street were broken and open, and there was no signage to keep out. We wandered around the exterior and took a few photos, and from the looks of it, no one else is keeping out either. I decided to walk on through the broken door and get a closer look. I was a bit nervous, but I just had to know what was inside. I have an amazing fascination with old things and abandoned spaces. This was a dream come true. When we got home, I got to digging on Google for some information.
It’s hard to believe that this space was in use as a hotel 5 years ago. Nature and poor human behavior can really wreak havoc on a space in a short amount of time.
Have a look at my photos below, and the information I found online. — Enjoy.
Terrible Trip Advisor Reviews of the Hotel
As I said I spent a good amount of time on google, first to find a name for the complex I had stumbled upon. Then I began to dig deeper, it was quite difficult to find any information on the place, but I did find a few interesting things. I found reference to the Villa on Trip Advisor from 2012. Here are some images that were uploaded to the site.
From my research it seems, the owner died in 2012, perhaps of a heart attack and the hotel closed after that.
The reviews were terrible. Stating horrible living standards, poor amenities, not to mention mold, mildew and cracking stairs and walkways. It’s hard to understand how someone could let such a beautiful old space fall into disrepair like this. I’ve never owned an Inn, so I don’t know the difficulties associated with that, but it seems, that the owners were operating the business as a discount hotel. If they had just put a bit of money into keeping it looking good, they could have charged more for the rooms, and attracted some clientele. But I guess it’s ancient history at this point.
The Hotel Was Up For Sale in 2007
Going a bit further back I found old listing from 2007, which has since been taken down. The space is amazing, it was a bit out of date even for 2007 but it had so much amazing potential.
Here are some of the photos from 2007. They are screenshots from the above-referenced page so please excuse the quality.
A History of the Villa
Upon further research, I found some brief information about the history of this amazing villa. You can read the full article HERE
A few points of note: ( all quotes taken from above article)
The house was a children’s hospital for a brief period fro 1920-22. ” It is interesting that in a short period from February 1920 to 1922 in “Vili Bravačić” annex housed the first children’s hospital in the Kingdom of SHS. The hospital called “English-Serbian Children’s Hospital” in 1919 in Belgrade was founded and led by Dr. Katherine MacPhail from Scotland. Due to the insufficient capacity of others hospitals. MacPhail has started searching for a place that would be beneficial for the treatment of children with bone and joint tuberculosis and similar diseases in childhood.”
From what the article says
“Villa Rašica at the foot of Petka’s mansion whose history is little known. According to documents from the Dubrovnik archives built in the first half of the 16th century at a time when Dubrovnik was there great plague. This perhaps explains its unusual position, away from everything. It was built by the family Gundulic, which used it as a country mansion.”
“In the thirties of the 20th-century mansion into the hands of family Rasic, after which it is still called. At one time part of the summer rented for stays Dubrovnik families. So we find a Dubrovnik gentleman who was born in Rašica. But due to the high isolation of the castle, as it was called, his family soon moved. After World War II, or the establishment of Communist rule, owners Rašice reportedly fled in order to save their lives, and the villa was temporarily a prison where the communist government imprisoned dissimilar ( perhaps they mean dissenters)”
I am in Love with this place and am digging to find more history. It would be an utter dream to purchase and renovate this storied and beautiful relic. But just a dream sadly.
If you know anything about the mansion, please get in touch.
I was driving through and noticed beautiful and abandoned building wondering what that was but your article answered all my questions thank you very much