Serbs in Dubrovnik

The Serbs of Dubrovnik made up 4.01% of the town's population according to the 2001 Croatian population census. Their number before the Croatian War of Independence was higher - in the 1991 census, 4,765 (6.7%) people in Dubrovnik municipality declared as Serbs. Historically, a number of notable Dubrovnik Catholics came to espouse a Serb national ideology and political goals.

The Serbian "renaissance" during the 19th century

In the 19th century there was a strong cultural and political movement of "Serb-Catholics" in Dubrovnik. All notable citizens of Dubrovnik, among them the Catholic priests such as Ivan Stojanović, considered themselves Serbs. There is a common misinterpretation that movement was sponsored and established by Serbia. However, Serbia didn't get independency and the possibility of international agitation before 1878. Serbian cultural movement in Dubrovnik on the other side has raised in the 1820s and 1830s. There is a statement on the national matter in the Dubrovnik almanac "Durbovnik - cvijet narodnoga knjizeštva" from 1851:

"I mi Srbi, neki smo iztočne crkve, neki zapadne, neki uniatske, a neki prešli smo na tursku vjeru; ništa manje svi smo Srbi, ter sastavljamo srbsko pleme, kojima god srbsko narečie jest narečie materinsko. Ima nas preko pet miliona, a živemo u Dalmaciji, u Ercegovini, u Crnojgori, u nekim predjelima gornje Albanije i...
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