Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

MONTENEGRO 537

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST

40 km (25 miles) NW of

Podgorica. Tel (020) 811 040. @

from Podgorica. # 7am–10pm

daily. 5 7am daily. 8 Note:

The Lower Monastery offers

small single-sex dorm rooms,

while the Upper Monastery

offers free acco m odation for

pilgrims in the courtyard for a

maximum of three days.

. St Basil’s Relics
The Church of
the Presentation of the
Virgin Mary houses
St Basil’s bones. Pilgrims
start gathering here from
early in the morn ing,
eager to catch a glimpse
of the holy relics
and in the hope of
witness ing a miracle.

Vaulted Candle Room

Hundreds of flickering votive

candles fill the atmospheric

vaulted Candle Room; its

frescoes are barely

visible beneath the soot.

. Chapel of the Honourable Cross
Nestled in the rock face above the
Church of the Presentation is the
Chapel of the Honourable Cross. The
walls of the chapel feature splendid
frescoes by the 17th-cen tury painter
Radul, depicting scenes from the life
of Christ and venerated saints.

ST BASIL

One of the Orthodox

Church’s most revered

saints, St Basil founded the

Ostrog Monastery in 1667

and remained here until

his death in 1671. It was at

Ostrog that he forged his

reputation as a miracle-

worker – a healer of the

physically and men tally

afflicted. The saint also

assisted in the renovation

of numer ous monasteries,

a practice forbidden by the

Turkish rulers of the time.

Portrait of St Basil, patron
saint of Ostrog

St Basil’s

Relics