Lokrum is a small island near Dubrovnik. It is a beautiful paradise island with a restaurant,
botanical garden, walking routs and beaches (including a nudist beach). It would be a perfect place
for a private villa or a hotel, yet you will not find those on Lokrum. Why? The history of Lokrum
cannot be told without its legend.
And Lokrum’s legend includes a curse…
Somewhere around the year 1023, there was a big fire in Dubrovnik. The people prayed to Saint
Benedict, vowing to build a monastery in his name if he spared the city. The fire was soon
extinguished, and the people build a Benedictine monastery and a church on Lokrum, which they
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
At the end of the 18th Century, under financial strain, the Dubrovnik Republic decide to sell the
island in 1798. The legend of the Lokrum curse started when a French army general ordered the
closure of the monastery and the expulsion of the Benedictines. Three aristocratic families from
Dubrovnik were chosen to convey these orders to the monks. The monks tried to prevent this, but they
failed.
After the last mass on the island, the monks donned their hooded cloaks and walked around Lokrum in
a long, single-file procession. Symbolically, they turned their lighted candles upside-down towards
the earth, so that the flame licked the wax, which left a melted trail.
They went around the island this way three times, ceremoniously chanting the terrible and harsh
words of the curse: “Whosoever claims Lokrum for his own personal pleasure shall be damned!” At
dawn, dead-tired, they embarked on a boat and left the island, never looking back. They never
returned.
The legend says the curse soon started to do its work. The heads of those three aristocratic
families died: one drowned, one was killed by a servant and one jumped out of a window. Misfortune
followed every new owner of the island for several centuries: aristocrats and monarchs went
bankrupt, had shipwrecks, barely survived earthquakes or were killed.
Many foreign rulers visited Dubrovnik throughout its long history. Famous English king, Richard the
Lion-Hearted, was the first among them. It is said that he stopped over on his return from Palestine
in the year 1192. All the Dubrovnik chroniclers relate how Richard the Lion-Hearted got caught up in
a great storm in the Adriatic Sea, while returning home from the Third Crusades. During a fierce
storm, the king vowed that if he survives, he will build two churches to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
One on the spot where he would step on land, and the other in England, his homeland.
According to chroniclers, the king's ship took safe shelter next to the island of Lokrum. Not
forgetting his promise, the king decided to raise the church he had pledged in this spot. Today
Lokrum is a fairy tale place. Island is an excursion site for tourists but also due to its calmness
a very popular day break for locals. Its flora amazes its visitors, thousands of crickets’ chirp and
the untouched shore attracts swimmers, divers and cliff divers.
Walk the trails, see Maximilian’s beautiful botanical garden Maximilian, feed tame peacocks, swim in
the clear deep sea and find your beach to enjoy (Lokrum, among other things, is famous for its
nudist beach).