Religious sites in Montenegro

St. Luke's Church

St. Luke"s Church was built by Mauro Kacafrangi in 1195 of which is mentioned in the inscription on the western façade. This is a modest one-nave church whose main nave is longitudinally divided into three parts. St. Luka’s church has characteristics of the Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. This is the only building in the town which did not suffer any major damage during earthquakes. It was depicted with fre ...
Founded: 1195 | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Kotor Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Kotor is one of two Roman Catholic cathedrals in Montenegro. It was built in honor of Saint Tryphon, the patron and protector of the city, on the same site where an older church had already existed long ago. That earlier church was built in 809 by Andrija Saracenis, a citizen of Kotor, where the remains of the saint were kept after being brought from Constantinopole. The cathedral was c ...
Founded: 1166 | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Church of Our Lady of Remedy

The Church of Our Lady of Remedy is perched on the slope of the St. John Mountain. It dates from 1518. The church can only be reached on foot: the rocks and the stairs that lead to the structures on the slope make this church a difficult and time-consuming place to reach. Nevertheless, many tourists and local citizens visit this church daily. It can be seen from a long distance. The oldest known building in Montenegro, ...
Founded: 1518 | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Church of Santa Maria in Punta

Santa Maria in Punta is one of the oldest pre-Romanic churches in the Montenegro coastal region. According to the preserved written record, this church was established by the Benedictines in 840 AD as their cloister and this was later taken over by the Franciscans. The oldest school in Budva was located in this Monastery. A large number of old tombs have been found in the church. For a period of time, it was the home to a ...
Founded: 840 AD | Location: Budva, Montenegro

St. John's Church

St. John"s Church is one of the oldest churches in the Montenegro coastal region, which was built, according to oral tradition, in the 7th century. It was a Cathedral until 1828, when the Diocese of Budva was abolished. The Cathedral was damaged in the earthquake of 1667, after which it was reconstructed on several occasions, while its high tower, which dominates the town, was erected in 1867. Next to the church, the ...
Founded: 7th century | Location: Budva, Montenegro

Our Lady of the Rocks

Our Lady of the Rocks is one of the two islets off the coast of Perast in Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It is an artificial island created by bulwark of rocks and by sinking old and seized ships loaded with rocks. The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rocks is the largest building on the islet; it has a museum attached. There is also a small gift shop close to the church and a navigation light at the western end of th ...
Founded: 1452 | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Sveti Dorde Island

Ostrvo Sveti Đorđe (Island of Saint George) is one of the two islets off the coast of Perast in Bay of Kotor. A small action took place during the Siege of Cattaro on 14 October 1813 when the French held island was captured by a British and Sicilian naval force. The island contains Saint George Benedictine monastery from the 12th century and the old graveyard for the old nobility from Perast and further from the whole ...
Founded: 12th century | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Ostrog Monastery

The Monastery of Ostrog is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church sitatued against an almost vertical background, high up in the large rock of Ostroška Greda. It is dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog, who was buried here. Ostrog monastery is the most popular pilgrimage place in Montenegro. The Monastery was founded by Vasilije, the Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina in the 17th century. He died there in 1671 and som ...
Founded: 1671 | Location: Bjelopavlići, Montenegro

Vlah Church

The Vlah Church was built around 1450 on the site of Bogumils" necropolis, which had around 150 stećci (monumental, ornate tombstones). Only two of them are preserved today. Originally they faced each other, and were recently reoriented to be side by side. The church was initially made of 'plot', i.e. of sticks, switches and mud. It was rebuilt three times, and finally in 1864 the church received its curr ...
Founded: 1450 | Location: Cetinje, Montenegro

Ulcinj Church-Mosque

During the rule of the Venetians the Church of St. Maria was built in the Old Town in 1510. It was turned into a Mosque of the Sultan Selim II as soon as the Turks conquered Ulcinj in 1571. It used to be the so-called Xhamia Mbretrore – Imperial Mosque, as it did not have any Wakf from which it could have been financed at the beginning, so that its employees were paid from the state budget. Hajji Halil Skura added a min ...
Founded: 1510 | Location: Ulcinj, Montenegro

Cetinje Monastery

The Serbian Orthodox Cetinje Monastery was founded between 1701 and 1704 by Prince-Bishop Danilo I on the site of the former court of Ivan Crnojević (founded 1485). Cetinje was attacked by Ottomans on 25 September 1692. Instead of fighting, Venetians entered negotiations, and reached an agreement to abandon the monastery under honorable terms. However, they mined a monastery with a time bomb, which set of in the evening ...
Founded: 1701-1704 | Location: Cetinje, Montenegro

Birth of Our Lady Church

Architecture in Prčanj bears witness to its prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries. The town"s waterfront consists of a long line of stone villas, unified by their beautiful facades and separated by gardens and olive orchards. The most impressive feat of architecture in Prčanj is the Birth of Our Lady church. It seems out of proportion to the number of inhabitants and took 120 years to build (1789–1909). It w ...
Founded: 1789 | Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Morača Monastery

Morača Monastery is one of the best known medieval monuments of Montenegro. The founding history is engraved above the western portal. Stefan, a son of Vukan Nemanjić, the Grand Prince of Zeta (r. 1190-1207), founded the monastery in 1252, possibly on his own lands (appanage). The region was under the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty. Monastery was burned by the Ottomans for the first time in 1505, during a turbulent peri ...
Founded: 1252 | Location: Kolašin, Montenegro

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ

Construction of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ began in 1993 to a design by Predrag Ristić. Consecration occurred on October 7, 2014 on the occasion of the 1700-year anniversary of the Edict of Milan on freedom of religion. The Orthodox Arts Journal wrote that the cathedral is 'certainly one of the most interesting Orthodox churches built in our times. Unlike other new cathedrals we have seen recently ...
Founded: 1993-2014 | Location: Podgorica, Montenegro

Savina Monastery

Savina Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery of three churches located in one of the most beautiful parts of the northern Montenegrin coast. It was founded by Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, the Duke of Saint Sava (r. 1448–1466). The small Church of the Assumption is 10m high and 6m wide. Its foundation dates to 1030, although the oldest record of it is from 1648. Its reconstruction began in the late 17th century, with t ...
Founded: 1030 | Location: Herceg Novi, Montenegro

Banja Monastery

On the way from Risan towards Perast, along the shore of the sea is located Banja monastery. The foundation of monastery is related to Stefan Nemanja who lived in the 12th century. It is thought that the monastery got its name by the Roman bathrooms, which in one of the severe earthquakes fell into the see together with the antique Risan. At the beginning of 17th century Petar Kordic from Risan raised a church an alta ...
Founded: 12th century | Location: Risan, Montenegro

Rezevici Monastery

Reževići Monastery is a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery located in Katun Reževići village between Budva and Petrovac. The monastery has two churches. According to another legend, Stefan the First-Crowned, the first king of Serbia, drank wine from this wine vessel during his visit to his cousin, Venetian Doge Dandolo. Later, in 1223 or 1226, he allegedly built "The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God ...
Founded: 1223-1226 | Location: Budva, Montenegro

Lami Mosque

The Lami Mosque is one of the six mosques in Ulcinj. It was built by Hajji Alia in 1689. In 1968, the anti-Albanian Yugoslav government wanted to destroy the mosque, but the bravery of Imam Ibrahim Llolla to stand in front of the Yugoslavian police saved the mosque, as he was ready to sacrifice himself for the mosque.
Founded: 1689 | Location: Ulcinj, Montenegro

Pljevlja Monastery

It is not exactly known when the Holy Trinity Monastery in Pljevlja was founded. Today"s see of the Eparchy of Mileševa was established before the 1465 Ottoman conquest of the city. Since the Ottoman law forbade the building of new churches, but permitted the rebuilding of those which had existed at the time of Mehmed the Conqueror, it is certain that a church had existed on the site of the present monastic church, ...
Founded: before 1465 | Location: Pljevlja, Montenegro

Miholjska Prevlaka Monastery

Miholjska prevlaka, also known as 'Island of Flowers', includes a monastery dedicated to Archangel Michael. It was founded by Serbian Archbishop Sava (s. 1219–35). The church base was built earlier, reconstructed in the 9th century and destroyed in the 11th century. The monastery was the seat of the Eparchy of Zeta between the 13th and 15th centuries. Under planned restoration, the monastery was destroyed by ...
Founded: c. 1230 | Location: Tivat, Montenegro

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Château de Foix

The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.

The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.

As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

Until the Revolution, the fortress remained a garrison. Its life was brightened with grand receptions for its governors, including the Count of Tréville, captain of musketeers under Louis XIII and Marshal Philippe Henri de Ségur, one of Louis XVI's ministers. The Round Tower, built in the 15th century, is the most recent, the two square towers having been built before the 11th century. They served as a political and civil prison for four centuries until 1862.

Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.