Some city symbols do not stand still quietly in the background
In Dubrovnik, some of them strike the hour.
High above Luža Square, on the City Bell Tower, two bronze figures have long belonged to the city’s most recognisable daily rhythm. Known locally as the Zelenci, and also as Maro and Baro, they raise their hammers and strike the bell above the Old Town, turning time itself into one of Dubrovnik’s most familiar sounds.
For many visitors, they begin as a detail noticed almost by chance. Later, they become one of those things people remember clearly — not only because they are unusual, but because they feel so deeply woven into the life of the city.
They have been part of Dubrovnik’s skyline for centuries
The story of the Zelenci reaches back to the late 15th century. The City Bell Tower itself was originally built in 1444, while the original wooden striking figures were replaced with mechanised bronze figures in 1478. A few decades later, in 1506, master founder Ivan Rabljanin cast the great bell they strike.
That alone would be enough to make them memorable. But what gives them their special place in Dubrovnik is not only age. It is continuity. Generations have looked up at the same tower, listened for the same striking of the hour and recognised the same pair of figures above the square.
Why they are called the Zelenci
Their nickname comes from their colour.
Over time, the bronze developed a green patina, which is why Dubrovnik came to know them simply as the Zelenci – “the green ones”. It is one of those names that feels both affectionate and completely natural, as though the city had no need to make them more formal than that.
That informality suits them. Although they are historic objects, they do not belong to the city only as museum pieces or heritage facts. They belong to the everyday sound and image of Dubrovnik.
The figures on the tower today are replicas
There is also an important detail many people do not realise at first glance: the Zelenci on the bell tower today are replicas.
When the old bell tower, which had become unstable, was rebuilt in 1929, the original figures were removed and replaced by copies. The originals are now preserved in the Cultural History Museum in the Rector’s Palace, part of the Dubrovnik Museums.
That means the figures visitors see above Luža today are not the age-old originals, but faithful successors continuing the same public role. The historic Maro and Baro, meanwhile, remain protected as museum objects.
More than decoration, they are part of the city’s rhythm
What makes the Zelenci special is that they are not simply statues on a tower.
They do something. They strike the hour. They belong to sound as much as to sight, which is why they feel so alive in the city’s memory. In Dubrovnik, time is not only seen on the clock face, it is heard through the tower and through the movement of these two figures above the square.
That makes them different from many city symbols. They do not merely represent Dubrovnik. They actively shape part of its daily atmosphere.
A symbol that feels both historic and familiar
Perhaps that is why the Zelenci remain so easy to love. They are historic without feeling distant, iconic without feeling untouchable.
They belong to the postcard image of Dubrovnik, but they also belong to ordinary repetition: the hour struck above the square, the glance upward, the sound that folds into the life of the Old Town. This is where their charm lies. They are part of heritage, certainly, but also part of habit.
In a city so rich in stone, memory and symbolism, the Zelenci still stand out because they are not silent. They continue to announce the passing of the day, just as they have for centuries.
Why people remember them
Some visitors remember Dubrovnik through the walls. Others through the sea, the bells, the light or the stone streets.
And many remember it, even if only later, through smaller recurring signs, the sound above Luža, the movement of two bronze figures, the sense that this city still keeps time in a way that can be seen and heard at once.
That may be the real beauty of the Zelenci. They are not only part of Dubrovnik’s past. They are part of its living rhythm, still striking the hour above the city.
