City of Herceg Novi

Herceg Novi is the town recognised by the Mimosa trees and numerous steps. It is the town of "sun", due to the large number of sunny days in the year. The heart of Herceg Novi is the old town, with structures that were built in the various epochs in history. The clock tower (1667), Kanli-kula (1483), Spanjola Fortress (1538) and the Forte Mare Fortress (1687), represent just one part of the cultural heritage of this town. Rich in greenery, Herceg Novi hides numerous types of tropical flowers. At the end of January the whole town is surrounded by the gentle fragrance of yellow and green Mimosa, so there is a feast called the Mimosa Festival, dedicated to this flower. During the summer months, there are other festivals in this town, which add to the tourist offer of this magical town.

Herceg Novi was founded 600 years ago (in 1382 year). The fortification facilities in the town – fortresses from the Turkish, Venetian, Spanish, and Austrian period- testify about those long gone days.

According to the most relevant historical data Herceg Novi was founded by the Bosnian King Tvrtko I Kotromanic, in the spring of 1382. Tvrtko I was also "the King of Serbs, Bosnia and the coast and west sides". Herceg Novi, was established in the former district Dracevica, in the Topalj bay (a part of the present day area Topla near Herceg Novi), and its former name was Sveti Stefan (ST. STEFAN). Except the present day name (Herceg Novi), the town was also known by the names NOVI, CASTRUM NOVUM, CASTEL NUOVO…

The present day name the town got during the reign of Herceg Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca, better known by the name Herceg Stjepan, and the wider area with which he ruled was know as Herzegovina. In that period (XV century) Herceg Novi experiences the greatest development and bloom.

The town was conquered by the Turks in the 1482, and they ruled Herceg Novi for almost 200 years. More specifically, Turkish reign in Herceg Novi ends in 1687 year. From 1687 to 1797 Herceg Novi is being ruled by Venetia.

Historical data testify of the short Spanish interruption of the Turkish reign of the town. According to those data, Spaniards rule Herceg Novi from 1538 to 1539.

Except the Turks and the Spaniards, Herceg Novi is being ruled by other great conquerors, and the historical circumstances have made that on the territory of Herceg Novi many people and many civilianization have reverted leaving great marks on the history, culture and economical development of the town and the surrounding.

Herceg Novi is also being conquered by the Venetians, who ruled the town until the final ruin of the Venetian Republic in 1797 year. The period after that is marked by often changes of the administrations which are governing the town. In the year 1797 the first Austrian administration was established in Herceg Novi which lasted until 1806.

For a year (1806 – 1807) Herceg Novi is being ruled by the Russians. The period from 1807 to 1815 in Herceg Novi is characterized by the French government under the authority of Napoleon. In a very short interval from 1813 to 1814, Herceg Novi is being taken over by the temporary government of Montenegro and Boka Kotorska, which are already replaced by the Austro – Hungarian government in 1815. From 1815 to 1918 we have the second Austro - Hungarian reign over the town.

With the crash of the Austro – Hungarian state in 1918, in Herceg Novi Serbian army has arrived. At that time the town enters the former Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, or as from 1929 it was called Kingdom Yugoslavia. In 1941 Herceg Novi is being occupied by the fascists, first the Italians (1941 – 1943), and then the Germans (1943 – 1944). The town is being liberated by the partisan troupes at the end of October 1944.

 

YOU MUST VISIT

We suggest the following top 5 places in and around Herceg Novi that should definitely be visited:

OLD TOWN
HOMELAND MUSEUM
BIJELA
IGALO
MOUNTAIN ORJEN
OLD TOWN

The visit to the old town of Herceg Novi, we are sure will make a great pleasure for you. Even though Herceg Novi is lot like many other coastal towns, come things make it special. Namely, it is the best fusion of history and culture, tradition and spirituality, past and modern time. It was founded by the king of Bosnia, Tvrtko I Kotromanic, and the town was initially called Sveti Stefan. The very historical data note that the town is about 6 centuries old, and of the tumultuous history of the town testify the fortresses inside the bulwarks of the Old town (Spanjola, Citadela, Forte Mare, Kanli kula), and of course numerous palaces and churches. Many culturally historical monuments and cultural edifices of modern age today, preserve the spirit of Christianity and represent a treasury of artistic and cultural wealth.

For a long time the old town of Herceg Novi was the intermediate in trading connections with the neighboring states, and it was a rival to Dubrovnik. The old town is surrounded by the wall which was built from XIV to XIX century. If you intend to tour through the Old town of Herceg Novi, except the already mentioned fortress Forte Mare (XIV century), Kanli kula (XV century), we suggest that you think about the visit of the central part of the old urban core, which has two big squares in it: the Square of Herceg Stjepan with the church of Sveti Arhandjel Mihajlo and the Square Mico Pavlovic with the church of Sveta Jeronima. The town also has artistic galleries, national library, city archive etc...

The trademarks of the Old town in Herceg Novi are also the stairs or as people from Herceg Novi call them SKALINE. At the majority of the narrow and beautiful Herceg Novi streets, the stairs are very long, and to tourists and guests of the town they are very strenuous for climbing and walking. However, the numerous stairs do not have to be tiring if you see them as a way of recreation.

 

HOMELAND MUSEUM

There are few towns in Montenegrin coast which have the museum such as Homeland museum of Herceg Novi. Even though as a significant cultural institution of the town it was founded in 1949, the building of the museum is over 150 years old. That building was constructed at the end of the XVII century in late baroque style. The homeland museum of Herceg Novi is actually a legacy of one of the most famous men from Herceg Novi, that is one of the mayors of the town Marko Komnenovic (1870 – 1941), and his wife Olga. With the will that Komnenovic family has left in 1940, the wish that their house is turned into a "city museum" was carried out. As a part of the homeland museum you can see some very valuable collections. Botanical collection, which has more than 100 selected kinds of Mediterranean and sub tropic flower, and also you can see various kinds of palm trees, agaves, cactuses, aloes etc

As a part of the archeological collection the items from the pre historical civilization of the town and the surrounding are being preserved. As a part of the ethnological collection you can see numerous amphorae, old ships etc… The museum also keeps instruments that were used in agriculture, cattle breeding, olive breeding etc... Also, it is interesting to see the collection of 30 icons, mostly works of the old Kotor icon painters.

 
BIJELA

The place Bijela is 13 km away from Herceg Novi. Bijela is more and more mentioned as a synonym or the homeland of exquisite Boka ship builders. Even today there is a ship building industry, because the tradition of reparation and ship building stems from the time of the founder of Herceg Novi, Bosnian king Tvrtko. The skillfulness of ship building to the masters from Bijela the famous and well known masters, or as they are locally caller MESTRI, from Korcula (Dalmatia) used to transfer. You can visit Bijela if you are coming to Herceg Novi or some other coastal town by a vessel: yacht, sailing boat etc… If you are a great aesthete, and you enjoy the touring of cultural historical monuments, or you are a fun of old edifices, then in Bijela you can visit one of the significant historical sights is the church Rize Bogorodice (RIZE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD) from the XIV century. It has some very valuable frescoes. In the vicinity there are also some other churches such as: Sveta Gospoda (ST. GENTELMAN) (XVII), Sveti Petra (ST. PETER) (XIX), as well as the church Sveti Vraci (ST. SORCERERS).

Bijela also has two very nice hotels: "Park" and "Delfin". Also, if you like Bijela that much that you wish to spend the rest of your holiday in it, there are private boarding houses, cafés, restaurants and of course nicely arranged beaches.
IGALO

Igalo is far famous Montenegrin healing place. It is a part of Herceg Novi. The most famous health complex – Institute Dr Simo Milosevic is placed there. For the improvement of the health condition of the patient in Igalo various techniques are used such as: massages, electro therapies, hydro massages, healing water in the pools, healing mud etc...

The staying and the services of the rehab center in Igalo, are not just used by the patients with heavy injuries, rheumatic and extremity disorders, but also by the sportsmen, and convalescents.

In Igalo came, as people say, many hopeless cases in wheelchairs, and they went back home without them and on their own feet. Especially in the recent years in Igalo stay mostly tourists from Scandinavia, mostly Norwegians. The guests of Igalo were also many famous and well known people. Still, the man who spent a lot of time in Igalo was the former president of SFRJ (ex Yugoslavia), Josip Broz Tito. Because of the necessities of summer vacations and rest of that statesman the still existing villa "Galeb" (GULL) was built, which lately is mostly used as a residential facility of the Government of the Republic of Montenegro. You can easily come to trip areas Zanjice or Njivice from Igalo by using the transport of taxi boats and barges, or you can visit the famous cave "Plava spilja" which according to the testimonies of numerous tourists is a real "temple of the god of the sea".

 

MOUNTAIN ORJEN

People from Novi say that Herceg Novi Riviera can best be seen from mountain Orjen. If you are decisive in the intention to spend one day of your vacation in walking up the mountain Orjen, except the good will and desire for such an undergo, you will only need a camera. Orjen is situated at 1.895 m height above sea level. And when we tell you that from Orjen, during the sunny days, you can see with your bare eye the entire Montenegro, and a part of the neighboring Herzegovina, Dubrovnik coast and several southern islands in Dalmatia, then, we are sure, that you will want to go to Orjen as soon as possible. Herceg Novi also has well organized mountain climbing associations, and the path through which you will climb to Orjen is very well marked. Except by walking – on the asphalt, to Orjen or to the mountain Subra you can come driving a jeep safari, over the macadam road. The massif of Orjen even today is considered to be an area with enormous amounts of precipitations (rainfalls) because the village Crkvice, in the east side of the mountain, is the rainiest in Europe with 5 m of water drags per year. Also, the entire area of the mountain Orjen is rich with flora and fauna, and mostly with healing herbs and mushrooms which you can pick only if you are a botanist or a good connoisseur of plants.