Montenegro

An Eastern Orthodox monastery under the Serbian Orthodox Church, carved into the sheer cliff of Ostroška greda at an elevation of about 900 meters above the Zeta Valley in Danilovgrad municipality, Montenegro. Founded around 1665 by Saint Basil of Ostrog (Sveti Vasilije Ostroški, 1610 to 1671), its Upper Monastery preserves his relics in the cave Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God, while the Church of the Holy Cross features late 17th-century rock frescoes by Master Radul. Every year hundreds of thousands of Orthodox, Catholic, and Muslim pilgrims alike come to venerate the saint, especially on his feast day of May 12 (April 29 on the Julian calendar).

Vách đá Ostroška greda, trên thung lũng sông Zeta, khu tự quản Danilovgrad

Photo: Gavinevans, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

One of the oldest monumental Romanesque cathedrals along the eastern Adriatic coast, consecrated on June 19, 1166 over the site of the 809 sanctuary beneath the cliffs of Saint John in the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town of Kotor, celebrated for its twin post-1667 Baroque bell towers, its three-tiered 1362 Romanesque-Gothic stone ciborium, the 1440 gilded silver Pala d'Oro altarpiece, and its reliquary treasury enshrining the head and relics of Saint Tryphon.

Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kotor, Papal Minor Basilica, and UNESCO World Heritage Site (Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor, inscribed in 1979)Saint Tryphon Square (Trg Svetog Tripuna 336), Old Town (Stari Grad), 85330 Kotor, Montenegro

Photo: Tumi-1983, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

Montenegro's finest monument of Classical Ottoman Islamic architecture situated in the northern mountain town of Pljevlja, erected between 1569 and 1570 through the endowment of local-born Ottoman statesman Husein-pasa Boljanic in the school of master architect Mimar Hayruddin, renowned for its 42-meter stone minaret (the tallest historic minaret in the Balkans), polychrome floral dome frescoes, sacred relic of the Prophet Muhammad, and the gold-illuminated 1571 manuscript Quran.

Premier Monument of Classical Islamic Architecture in Montenegro and Cultural Monument of Exceptional National Importance of MontenegroKralja Petra I Street, City Center, 84210 Pljevlja, Montenegro

Photo: Desemeus, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The historical and spiritual heart of Montenegro standing beneath Mount Lovcen and Eagle's Crag in the Old Royal Capital of Cetinje, originally founded in 1484 by Lord Ivan Crnojevic (home to the 1494 Cyrillic printing press) and rebuilt on its present site between 1701 and 1704 by Prince-Bishop Danilo I Petrovic-Njegos incorporating fifteenth-century carved stones, venerated as the reliquary sanctuary of Saint Petar of Cetinje, the Right Hand of Saint John the Baptist, and a fragment of the True Cross.

Seat of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (Mitropolija crnogorsko-primorska) and National Cultural and Historical Monument of MontenegroPalace Square (Dvorski trg, at the foot of Orlov Krs), 81250 Cetinje, Montenegro

Photo: Desemeus, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

An extraordinary Roman Catholic sanctuary crowning the only artificial island in the Adriatic Sea across the waters of the Bay of Kotor from historic Perast, built over centuries by seamen who sank stone-laden ships around a sea reef after discovering a miraculous Marian icon on July 22, 1452, famed for its fifteenth-century cedarwood icon by Lovro Dobricevic, 68 Baroque canvases by Tripo Kokolja, over 2,500 silver votive plaques, and the annual Fasinada boat procession.

Maritime Pilgrimage Sanctuary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kotor and UNESCO World Heritage Site (Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor, inscribed in 1979)Artificial Islet of Gospa od Skrpjela in the Bay of Kotor, off the coast of Perast, 85336 Kotor, Montenegro

Photo: Gertjan R, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons