Herceg Novi Landmarks
Herceg Novi Landmarks – Herceg Novi Riviera, Forte Mare fortresses, and Espanola
Herceg Novi Riviera, in addition to beaches, offers several other attractions and opportunities for entertainment and recreation. For start, there are parks in Herceg Novi, full of lush greenery, which is why this city is also called the City of Flowers. And from Meljine to Igalo, all along the coast, there is a 6 km long promenade “Five Danica”. Fortifications, religious, residential, and public buildings are combined in the Old Town center, which dates from the late Middle Ages. The intertwined architectural styles best reflect the area’s Turkish and Venetian rule. The Old Town core consists of the Old Town within the walls, the bastions, and the Kanli Tower, which is now used as a summer stage. The clock tower, the stronghold of Forte Mare is in the south, and the city fountain and Karaca gate are in the east. There is also the fortress of Espanola, built during the Turkish rule, but it was named after the Spaniards who participated in its construction during their one-year rule of Herceg Novi. One of the most important fortifications in the city is the Forte Mare Fortress, which is believed to be responsible for the construction of medieval Herceg Novi. The architecture of the city center is recognizable by the combination of steep streets and stairs that follow the cascades of the terrain.Herceg Novi Landmarks – Churches
The Church of St. Jerome from 1856, the Church of St. Leopold Mandic, dedicated to Leopold Mandic from Novljan, when he was canonized in 1983 by Pope Jovan Pavle II, and the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael built at the beginning of the 19th century, located in the very center of the old town, on Belavista Square, are some of the churches located in the town itself. Halfway between Herceg Novi and Igalo, in Topla, there is a complex of churches of St. George and St. Savior with the Episcopal Residence. While on the hill south of Herceg Novi, the Savina Monastery and the monastery complex consist of three churches, a boarding house, and a cemetery. The Savina Monastery dates back to the 15th century, while the time of the complex’s construction has not been determined. The works of the famous Kotor Gothic school are kept in this complex. On the east side of the entrance to the Bay of Kotor is the monastery Žanjica, from the 15th century.Herceg Novi Landmarks – Blue Cave
The Blue Cave, located on the Luštica Peninsula, is one of the most attractive places in the vicinity of Herceg Novi. It was named after the remarkable blue color of the water, whose temperature is often several degrees higher than the temperature of the water outside the cave. It is 9 nautical miles away from Herceg Novi and can be reached by boat on organized tours.Herceg Novi Landmarks – Mamula Island
6,3 km udaljeno od Herceg Novog, na samom ulazu u Bokokotorski zaliv nalazi se ostrvo Mamula. At the very entrance to the Bay of Kotor, 6.3 km away from Herceg Novi, is the island of Mamula. Almost the entire area is occupied by the fortress built in 1853 by the Austro-Hungarian general Lazar Mamula and the interesting fact is that the island is almost circular and has an area of only 200 square meters. The fortress served, during both world wars, as a notorious prison (Campo Mamula). There was even an Italian concentration camp in it during the Second World War. Due to its turbulent past, the island of Mamula is a must-see destination for day trips in the Bay of Kotor.Herceg Novi Landmarks – The Old Town
We are confident that a visit to Herceg Novi’s old town would be a memorable experience for you. Herceg Novi is similar to many other coastal towns, yet there are a few details that set it apart. It is, in fact, the perfect blend of history and culture, tradition and religion, past and present. Tvrtko I Kotromani, King of Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded Herceg Novi, which was formerly known as Sveti Stefan. According to historical data, we note that the city is about 6 centuries old, and the fortresses within the walls of the Old Town (Espanola, Citadel, Forte Mare, Kanli kula) testify to that turbulent history, along with numerous palaces and churches. Many cultural and historical monuments and cultural landmarks of recent times today preserve the spirit of Christianity and represent a treasury of artistic and cultural treasures. It was the old town of Herceg Novi that for many years and centuries was an intermediary in trade relations with neighboring countries and was supposed to compete with neighboring Dubrovnik. For these reasons, the Old Town is surrounded by a wall built from the 14th to the 19th century. If you intend to visit the Old Town of Herceg Novi in addition to the already mentioned fortress Forte Mare (XIV century), Kanli tower (XV century), we suggest you visit the central part of the old urban core, which includes two large squares: Herceg Stjepan Square with a church Sv. Archangel Michael and Trg Mića Pavlovića with the church of Sv. Jerome. The city still has art galleries, a public library, the city archives, but also the house of the only Nobel laureate from this area, Ivo Andrić. Stairs, or originally steps, are certainly a feature of the Old Town in Herceg Novi. The steps are very long on most of the narrow, beautiful streets of Herceg Novi, and are often very difficult for tourists and guests of the city to climb or walk. If you see them as a type of recreation, even the numerous steps do not have to be tiring.Herceg Novi Landmarks – Homeland Museum
Very few cities on the Montenegrin coast have a museum such as the Homeland Museum of the city of Herceg Novi. The building of the museum itself is over 150 years old, although it was founded in 1949 as a significant cultural institution of the city. This building was built at the end of the 17th century in the late Baroque style.
The Homeland Museum of Herceg Novi is the endowment of one of the famous people of Novljan, ie one of the mayors of the town Marko Komnenović (1870 – 1941), and his wife Olga. The will left by the Komnenovićs in 1940 realized the wish for their house to be a “city-museum”. You can see numerous very valuable collections within the local museum. The Botanical Collection has more than 100 selected species of Mediterranean and subtropical flowers. Here you can see various types of palms, agaves, cacti, aloes.
Within the archeological collection are kept objects from the time of the prehistoric civilization of the city and its surroundings. The ethnological collection consists of amphorae, old boats, fishing equipment.
The museum also keeps tools that were used in agriculture, primarily livestock and olive growing. In addition to the above collections, it is interesting to see a collection of about 30 icons, mostly works by old Kotor’s icon painters.
Herceg Novi Landmarks – Bijela Town
Only 13 kilometers from Herceg Novi, lies the town of Bijela. It is increasingly mentioned as a synonym or existence of excellent Boka shipbuilders. Even today, it houses a shipyard, because the tradition of overhaul and shipbuilding dates back to the time of the founder of Herceg Novi, the Bosnian king Tvrtko.
Famous and prominent masters, or as they are locally known as masters from Korcula (Dalmatia), once handed on the craft of shipbuilding to masters from Bijela. You can also visit Bijela if you come to Herceg Novi or some other coastal town by boat: yacht, sailboat, because it, like other coastal towns, has a marina.
If you enjoy visiting cultural and historical monuments, or you are simply a lover of old buildings, then Bijela is the right place for you, because you can visit one of the most important sights – the church of Riza Bogorodica from the 14th century, which has extremely valuable frescoes. Also nearby are the churches of St. God (XVII), St. Peter (XIX), and the church of St. Vrači. Two beautiful hotels, “Park” and “Dolphin”, are also located in Bijela.
Also, if you like Bijela so much that you would like to spend the rest of your vacation in it, there are private boarding houses, cafes, restaurants and of course beautiful beaches.