Dubrovnik je važan kulturni i vjerski topos na nacionalnom ozemlju, grad na svojevrsnom raskršću uljudbenih sustava, koji je, uz vjerski i državni kult sv. Vlaha, prepoznat i kao najjužniji grad s urbanim svjetovnim kultom viteza Orlanda. Ovim gradskim vjerskim i svjetovnim kultovima u Domovinskom se ratu pridružio i treći – kult sv. Nikole. Na dan sv. Nikole 6. siječnja 1991. godine zbio se najteži napad srpsko-crnogorskih agresora na grad, pa je stoga taj dan proglašen i Danom branitelja Dubrovnika. Vjerski kult sv. Nikole od 1991. godine dobiva tako posve novu dimenziju i priključuje se drugim urbanim simbolima Grada. Sv. Nikola postaje u suvremenoj memoriji Grada kult sveca zaštitnika branitelja Domovinskog rata. Ovdje se radi o posve jedinstvenom fenomenu u razvoju kulta sv. Nikole u svjetskim razmjerima, koji postaje antiratni svetac i svetac obranitelj. Cilj je ovoga rada, na interdisciplinaran način, kombinirajući povijesnu i sociološku perspektivu, steći prvi znanstveni uvid u međusobni odnos koncepata religijskog simbola, identiteta i zajednice na primjeru razvoja, promjene i značenja kulta sv. Nikole u Dubrovniku kroz povijesni kontinuitet do suvremenih zbivanja. The particularity of the Croatian national identity, seen through cultural and religious heritage, is in its diversity that reflects the Croatian centuries-old reality and various cultural and political influences. The position at the crossroads of civilizations and various influences have largely determined the nature of the Croatian national and religious heritage, which is an integral part of the Western European cultural circle. Dubrovnik is recognizable through its symbol - the Armenian saint St. Vlaho (Blasius), but also as the southernmost city with the urban secular cult of the knight Orlando. After the Croatian War of Independence, Dubrovnik gained the third cult along with two existing ones – the cult of St. Nicholas. It should be noted that the cult of St. Nicholas was never an important cult during the past of the Dubrovnik Republic and was never on the state list of holidays, but it remained in the domain of professional and family saints. The cult of St. Nicholas from the Byzantine Bari expanded to Ragusium, then part of the Byzantine theme of Upper Dalmatia during the 11th and 12th centuries. Through intensive economic ties with the Italian south, during the Anjou dynasty, it was contaminated with the cult of Nicholas the Traveler and established into a recognizable cult of protector of sailors and travelers. The cult of St. Nicholas on the territory of the Dubrovnik Republic got extremely strong following the conjuncture of maritime affairs during the 15th and 16th centuries, and in the 18th century, which can be seen from the construction of churches, chapels, monasteries, altars and through the naming of sailing ships. St. Nicholas is also an identity symbol of the Dubrovnik diaspora in Kosovo in Janjevo. Today Dubrovnik's community has a very specific notion of St. Nicholas as a symbol, because on that day, 6th of December 1991, the most severe attack on Dubrovnik took place by Serbian-Montenegrin aggressors, resulting in numerous human victims and material damage. The aim of this paper is, in an interdisciplinary way - combining historical and sociological perspective, to gain the first scientific insight into the relationship between the concepts of religious symbol, identity and community using the example of the cult of St. Nicholas in Dubrovnik. Research has shown that since 1991 St. Nicholas as a symbol has gained a whole new dimension on a semantic, value, emotional and ritual level. The cult of St. Nicholas thus has become in the modern memory of the city the cult of the patron saint of the Croatian War of Independence veterans. This is a completely unique phenomenon in the development of the cult of St. Nicholas which in this specific community has become an anti-war saint and a saint-defender.