Njegoš Mausoleum

The mausoleum of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš occupies the whole crest of Jezerski vrh, one of the summits of Mount Lovćen, at about 1,660 metres above the sea. Njegoš, prince-bishop of Montenegro, philosopher and its most celebrated poet, chose this peak as his resting place himself: in 1845 he built a small chapel here, and although he died in 1851 and was first buried at Cetinje Monastery, his remains were carried up the mountain in 1855. The building visitors see today is the second monument on the site, and its story reflects a century of Balkan history.

During the First World War Austria-Hungary occupied Montenegro, the chapel was badly damaged, and the occupiers demanded that the poet's remains be removed from the summit. The chapel was rebuilt and consecrated again in September 1925, at a three-day ceremony attended by King Alexander and Queen Maria of Yugoslavia. In 1952 the Yugoslav authorities decided to replace it with a secular mausoleum designed by the Croatian sculptor and architect Ivan Meštrović. Despite protests from the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, the chapel was demolished in the late 1960s, the new building went up between 1971 and 1974, and Njegoš was reburied in it in 1974.

The approach is part of the design. From the road below the summit a flight of 461 steps climbs through a tunnel cut into the mountain and emerges before the entrance. There two granite caryatids, each about seven and a half tonnes, stand guard as Montenegrin women watching over the tomb. Inside, the monumental granite figure of Njegoš, about 28 tonnes, is sheltered by the outspread wings of an eagle, and the vault shines with mosaic tesserae in which some eighteen kilograms of gold are set. Below lies the crypt with a white marble sarcophagus. From the summit the view can reach the Bay of Kotor, the Adriatic, Lake Skadar, the Prokletije range and Cetinje.

The mausoleum is among the highest in the world, and it stands inside Lovćen National Park, whose road from Cetinje climbs through beech and oak woods. Standing on the summit in clear weather, you see the country Njegoš wrote about spread out below: bare karst ridges, the sea on one side and the lake on the other.

Getting there

The mausoleum is about 6 km from Cetinje in a straight line, reached by an asphalt road from the town through Lovćen National Park; the last stretch is on foot up the 461 steps. The nearest airport is Tivat (TIV), about 9 km away in a straight line, though the drive over the mountain is considerably longer.