Most museums are in Cetinje, where the National Museum of Montenegro keeps historical, art, ethnographic and archaeological collections, and the former palaces house the King Nikola Museum and Njegoš's Biljarda. On the coast there are the Maritime Museum in Kotor, the Museum of Perast and town museums in Herceg Novi, Budva and Bar. In Podgorica, Nikšić, Berane and Pljevlja, local museums keep the archaeology and history of their regions.
What is where: the units of the National Museum in Cetinje, the Maritime Museum in Kotor, the Museum of Perast, local museums in King Nikola's palaces and the museums of the north.
Cetinje, a town of museums
The old royal capital has the most museums in one place, all within a few minutes' walk. The National Museum of Montenegro is made up of the Historical Museum and the Art Museum in the Government House, the former seat of government, plus the Ethnographic Museum and the Archaeological Museum with its lapidarium. The Art Museum also includes the "Miodrag Dado Đurić" gallery of contemporary art.
The King Nikola Museum occupies the palace whose construction began in 1863. It has been a museum since 1926, and its rooms are arranged as they looked around 1910, with original furniture, weapons, decorations and flags. The Biljarda, Njegoš's residence from 1838, is now the Njegoš Museum; a pavilion beside it holds a large relief map of Montenegro, made during the Austro-Hungarian occupation in the First World War. Njegoš's birth house in Njeguši and the Mausoleum on Lovćen also belong to the National Museum.
The coast: sea, captains and icons
The Maritime Museum of Montenegro in Kotor is housed in the Baroque Grgurina Palace from the early 18th century. It grew out of the collection of the Boka Navy, opened in 1900, and keeps ship models, weapons, charts and the interiors of Kotor captains' houses. In Perast, the Museum of Perast is in the Bujović Palace of 1694, and on the islet of Our Lady of the Rocks the church keeps sailors' votive gifts.
Herceg Novi has the "Mirko Komnenović" City Museum, an endowment of Mirko and Olga Komnenović, some forty steps from the sea, with archaeological, historical, ethnological and art collections, including icons of the Bay of Kotor school. In Budva, the archaeological museum in the Old Town shows finds from the ancient necropolis discovered in 1937, and in Bar the Local History Museum is in King Nikola's palace at Topolica, built in 1885.
Did you know?
Njegoš's residence in Cetinje, built in 1838, was named after the billiard table, its master's favourite game. Today it houses the Njegoš Museum, with a pavilion beside it holding a large relief map of Montenegro.
Podgorica and Nikšić
The Museums and Galleries of Podgorica hold archaeological, cultural-historical, ethnographic and historical collections. The Petrović Palace of 1891, in Kruševac park by the Morača, is now the Contemporary Art Centre of Montenegro. In Nikšić, the Local History Museum has been in King Nikola's palace of 1900 since 1951; its most valuable collection comes from the prehistoric site of Crvena stijena, with more than 9,500 objects.
The north
The Polimski Museum in Berane, founded in 1953, follows life in the Lim valley from prehistory to recent times through archaeological, ethnographic, historical and art collections. Local museums also work in Pljevlja and Bijelo Polje. Together with monasteries such as Đurđevi Stupovi and Morača, they are a good reason to tour the north even on a rainy day.
