Cetinje Monastery
Encyclopedia
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. It is located in Cetinje
Cetinje
Cetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro...
and is the seat of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral
Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral
The Metropolitanate of Montenegro is the largest diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. Founded in 1219 by Saint Sava, it is now one of the most prominent dioceses in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The current Metropolitan is Amfilohije...
and its name derives from Saint Peter of Cetinje. A center of historical and cultural importance, it was founded between 1701 and 1704 by Prince-Bishop Danilo I on the site of the former court of Ivan the Black.
In the New Cetinje Monastery there are several relics:
- Remains of Saint Peter of Cetinje
- Right hand of Saint John the Baptist
- Remains of Petar II Petrović-NjegošPetar II Petrovic-NjegošPetar II Petrović-Njegoš , was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro , who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet...
were moved here. - Crown of Stefan Uros IV Dusan, medieval Emperor of SerbiaSerbian EmpireThe Serbian Empire was a short-lived medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the Serbian Kingdom. Stephen Uroš IV Dušan was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks on 16 April, 1346, a title signifying a successorship to the Eastern Roman Empire...
Medieval Cetinje Monastery
The medieval Cetinje Monastery ) was a Serb OrthodoxSerbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
monastery built by Ivan the Black in 1484, and founded on the 4 January 1485. located in Ćipur, and dedicated to the birth of the Virgin Mary (Hram Roždestva presvete Bogorodice). During the 1692 Morean War
Morean War
The Morean War is the better known name for the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War. The war was fought between 1684–1699, as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire...
the Venetian forces demolished the medieval monastery.
It is believed that the monastery was about twenty metres long and about six metres wide based upon the monastery's original designs by the Venetian engineer, Barbieri. In an etching in the book Oktoih
Oktoih
Oktoih , in English the Book of Psalms or Psalter, is an incunabula printed in Cetinje, Montenegro in 1494. Oktoih is a book of liturgical hymns for singing in eight parts. It was printed in the Printing House of Crnojevići by Đurađ IV Crnojević, an educated ruler of Montenegro from 1490-1496...
, it seems the medieval Cetinje Monastery was a three-naved basilica, with a cupola on the center nave with elements of renaissance architecture. Around the monastery was a 1,400m2 complex with two smaller churches and an inn.