The Republic of Venice ruled parts of the Montenegrin coast at different times: Kotor from 1420 to 1797, Budva from 1442, Bar and Ulcinj until the Ottoman conquest of 1571, and Herceg Novi only from 1687. From that era survive Kotor's walls, the palaces of seafaring families in Perast and Kotor, gates with the winged lion of St Mark and Baroque churches rebuilt after the 1667 earthquake. Most of it is in the Bay of Kotor, which you can explore on foot and by boat in a day or two.
Kotor's UNESCO-listed walls, the captains' palaces of Perast, winged lions over the gates and a flag buried under an altar in 1797: where the Venetian era still shows on the coast.
Four centuries, but not everywhere
Venice did not rule the whole coast at the same time. Kotor placed itself under Venetian protection in 1420 and stayed Venetian until the Republic fell in 1797. Budva became Venetian in 1442, together with PaÅ”troviÄi. Bar and Ulcinj were Venetian until 1571, when the Ottomans took them. Herceg Novi was captured by Venice only in 1687 and held for little more than a century. The Venetians called these towns Albania Veneta, and their traces are clearest in the Bay of Kotor.
Kotor behind its walls
Kotor's walls run for about four and a half kilometres, are two to sixteen metres thick and climb the hill to St John's Fortress, at about 260 metres above sea level. More than 1,300 stone steps lead to the top. The walls took their present shape in the Venetian era, and the main entrance, the Sea Gate, was built in 1555. Reliefs of the winged lion of St Mark with an open book can still be seen on the walls and gates. Since 2017 the fortifications have been on the UNESCO list as part of the shared site "Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries", together with Bergamo, Peschiera, Palmanova, Zadar and Å ibenik.
Inside the Old Town stand the Cathedral of St Tryphon, consecrated in 1166 and rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1667 earthquake, and the palaces of noble families. One of them, the early 18th-century Grgurina Palace, houses the Maritime Museum of Montenegro, which grew out of the collection of the Boka Navy.
Did you know?
Perast was the last Venetian town to surrender in 1797. On 23 August that year its people solemnly buried the flag of the Republic beneath the main altar, with a farewell speech by captain Josip ViskoviÄ.
Perast, the captains' town
In the 17th and 18th centuries Perast was a town of seafarers and captains, as its Baroque waterfront palaces and the bell tower of St Nicholas show. Captain Vicko BujoviÄ's palace was built in 1694 to designs by the architect Giovanni Battista Fonte; since 1957 it has housed the Perast Town Museum, founded in 1937. Off the town lies the islet of Our Lady of the Rocks, raised on the reef where, as tradition has it, an icon of the Virgin was found in 1452. Its church holds 68 paintings by the Baroque painter Tripo Kokolja, and every 22 July, at the FaÅ”inada, the people of Perast carry stones to the islet by boat.
The end of the Republic
When Venice fell to Napoleon in 1797, Perast was the last town to surrender. On 23 August 1797 the Venetian flag was solemnly buried beneath the main altar, with a speech by captain Josip ViskoviÄ. Afterwards the Bay of Kotor passed to Austria, to Russian and Montenegrin forces, to France and back to Austria.
Further south the picture differs: in Herceg Novi the Kanli Kula and Å panjola fortresses date from Ottoman times, while Forte Mare has Ottoman foundations and was extended by Venice after 1687. In Stari Bar Venetian rule ended in 1571, so Ottoman traces are just as visible.
