St. Luke's Church, Kotor, Montenegro

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 frescoes soon after its construction, of which remained only some fragments on the southern wall.

The church altar was the work of Dascal Dimitrije, the founder of the Rafailovic school of painting from the seventeenth century. Once this church was catholic, but later it was given to orthodox people to use. Thus the church has two altars – the catholic and orthodox. The church floor is made of tombstones of common tombs of Kotor citizens, as burials took place in the very church until 1930s.

References:

Kotor Tourism

Religious sites in Montenegro

User Reviews

Adrian Yong (15 months ago)
Old Town of Kotor Montenegro. Historic, quaint, narrow lanes and filled with retailers, restaurants and even stores selling knock off goods. Supposed to be the City of Cats.....which are bigger than most other cats I have seen.

Sean Macg (15 months ago)
Stunning set up inside with some decent oil canvases. Well worth hearing the sweet chant of the monks too. 5 golden stars

Sarah Boyd (19 months ago)
Tiny Orthodox Church across from the main church in Kotor. Open except during services in the main church. Beautiful. Pictures allowed. Good selection of small, reasonably priced souvenirs and religious gifts including brochure with professional photos for 0.50€.

Warren Paul Harris (20 months ago)
Beautiful little Serbian Orthodox church we discovered in our travels. Be sure to go inside when here. It is worth your time.

Goran Stojkovski (2 years ago)
Extraordinary place to visit in the area. Among the other Romanesque monuments of our town, this charming church really deserves a special place. Being constructed in 1195 it is one of the few of such age that is still standing and even more it is still in use. Locals believe that it is miraculous since it has remained standing through earthquakes and wars. It did suffer some damage but it looks now almost the same as it did more than 820 years ago. What makes this church a reflection of local life style is the fact that for two centuries it had two altars, where both Roman Catholics and Christian orthodox believers could pray together.

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