Dubrovnik has preserved its finest palaces, churches and monasteries; streets and communal areas; stone walls, towers and forts, the unparalleled Stradun ( The Plaza ), and other traditional and spiritual places. This is a unique City, which has valued freedom above material wealth, defined by the Statue of 1272  and recognized by its flag of St Blaise borne over the world's ocean. It has always been its own master, untouchable and defiant and beautiful under the eternal protection of its patrol saint, St. Blaise. Excellent writers were born and work here: Marin Držić, the author of splendid comedies; Ivan Gundulić. The " poet of freedom"; ingenious astronomer and mathematician Ruđer Bošković; Marin Getaldić, " a devil in mathematics, and angel in the heart"; Mijo Pracat, a seaman and donor; Nikola Božidarević, Mihajlo Hamzić, Vicko Lovrin Dobričević, all representatives of the Dubrovnik school of painting. The City has survived due to its skilful diplomacy; it was a strong maritime and trade force in the 16th century, and today, it is a tourist destination, celebrated all over the world.