Manastir Sv. Vasilije Ostroški

Ostrog Monastery

Useful Information

Location:	Between the cities Danilovgrad and Nikšic.
Open:	MAY to SEP daily 6-17. OCT to APR daily 5-16. [2020]
Fee:	free, donations welcome. [2020]
Classification:	Cave Church
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	V=100,000/a [2020]
Photography:	allowed in gneral, not allowed inside the Church of the Presentation.
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
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History

17th century	monastery built (upper church) as ordered by Vasilije, the Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina.
1820s	new church built on the lower ridge to meet the needs of the increasing number of pilgrims
1922	badly damaged by fire.
1923-1926	renovated.
1943	a detachment of Chetniks used the monastery as their headquarters.

Description

Manastir Sv. Vasilije Ostroški (Ostrog Monastery) is built into the wide opening of a cave in the cliff of Oastroska Greda. It is named after its founder Basil, the Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina. He was later glorified as Sv. Vasilije Ostroški (Saint Basil of Ostrog). He ordered the construction of the monastery in the fortress like location inside a cave in the cliff face as a reaction on Ottoman raids. Numerous Montenegrin monasteries had been destroyed by raiding Ottoman Turks. It was an ambitious project and took many years.

The monastery has two parts, the lower one is the main monastery with a small cave church, the Church of the Presentation. It has frescoes from the end of the 17th century. The upper church is bigger a fills a cave entrance completely. It was painted by master Radul, who used the natural shapes of the cave and laid the frescoes immediately on the surface of the rock and the south wall.

This is a church and pilgrim destination, it is not a tourist site. If you respect the site and the believers, and wear appropriate clothes you can enter the church for free. Long skirt or trousers and covered shoulders are a must.