Knight Rolland and Dubrovnik

In the eighth century, Knight Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, the Frankish emperor, joined Christian Europe’s struggle against the Saracens in Dubrovnik, where he killed a very famous pirate called Spucente.

That is why the town of Ragusa, followed by Dubrovnik, erected a column with a statue of Knight Roland opposite its largest church, as a symbol of independence and freedom (his motto) around the time the ramparts were being built.

A statue of the pirate, badly dressed and ridiculous, is placed at one of the entrances to Ragusa.