| When you enter Old Town through either the Pile or Ploce Gate at either end of the Stradun, the first thing you will see is one of two Onofrio fountains. Construction on both started in 1438, and they were intended to provide a place for visitors to wash away any plague lurking on their skin before they entered the city. The fountains were designed by Italian hydroengineer Onofrio della Cava and architect Pietro di Martino and they provide clean, cold water via an aqueduct from the Dubrovnik River (Rijeka Dubrovacka), 11km (7 miles) away. But the fountains' efficacy as plague prophylactics is questionable. The larger fountain at the Pile Gate looks like a giant, domed, sectioned vat; it delivers cold water from 16 carved stone heads that ring the structure's lower third. The heads are all that is left of the fountain's ornamentation after the 1667 quake and the 1991-92 sieges. Water from the Luza Square fountain flows through a more ornate device with detailed sculpture work. Many people fill their water bottles and soak their bandannas in the fountains' cold water, especially in summer when Dubrovnik is steamy.
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