Kotor

Kotor, a small town, municipal center and port in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro; 961 pp. (2011). It lies in the extreme southeastern part of the Bay of Kotor, at the foot of Lovćen. It is surrounded by old, 4.5 km long walls, through which the city is entered through three gates. The well-preserved medieval city center as well as the defensive walls from the Venetian period have been included since 1979, ie. 2017 (as part of the Defense Systems of the Republic of Venice in the period from the 16th to the 17th century) on the UNESCO listworld cultural heritage. Faculty of Maritime Studies (founded 1981), Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management (founded 1999) and Institute of Marine Biology (founded 1996); maritime museum, historical archive, etc. Food, chemical and metal industry. Nautical tourism. Kotor is the headquarters of the shipping company Crnogorska plovidba. International passenger port. Road (Adriatic Highway) connected with other settlements on the Montenegrin coast and with the hinterland (Cetinje, Podgorica).

The name of the city comes from the medieval Latin name Catarum, which also appears in the forms Decadaron, Dekatera, Cathera, Catharaetc. Archaeological finds in the area of ​​today's Kotor indicate a relatively long life in that place. As a Greek settlement, Kotor already existed in the III. century BC Kr. At the beginning of the 5th century it was demolished by the Goths. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Bay of Kotor with Kotor belonged to Byzantium. In VII. century became the most important city of the whole bay. In that century it was part of the Byzantine archonship, and in the IX. century themes of Dalmatia. In the Middle Ages, Kotor was an autonomous commune, which had its own prince and three councils, and it also included Grbalj, Dobrota, the Vrmac peninsula and occasionally other parts of the Bay of Kotor. Until 1185, the supremacy of Byzantium and Zeta rulers changed over Kotor. Kotor enjoyed full autonomy under the Nemanjićs (1186–1371) and the Croatian-Hungarian (1371–84) and Bosnian kings (1384–91). After a short period of independence (1391–1420), in which he defended himself from the powerful feudal lords Balšić, Đurašević-Crnojević and Kosač, the city surrendered to the Venetian Republic, under whose administration it remained until its fall in 1797. At the beginning of the XIV. century the city received its statute. It was a significant trade and transport hub at the crossroads of the Balkan countries and the Mediterranean, and a naval stronghold with its own merchant navy; crafts, guilds and fraternities were developed in it (the Boka Navy stood out), it had its own schools, hospitals, orphanages, inns, its own trade colonies in neighboring countries, and many Kotorans distinguished themselves by their literary and scientific work. Under Venice, Kotor was the capital of the so-called Venetian Albania and the seat of the extraordinary providor. During the Venetian-Ottoman wars, Kotor fortified itself with strong defensive walls and became one of the Venetians. centers of resistance to the Ottomans. Despite that, it suffered several times due to multiple Ottoman sieges (1537, 1657) and earthquakes (1563, 1667). Against the Venetian administration and the city authorities, the population revolted several times (three councils in Grblja in the first half of the 15th century, one at the beginning of the 16th century). The most widespread was the revolt that took place around the middle of the 15th century. In addition to Grbaljska Župa, it also affected Luštica, Krtola and Paštrovići. It was suffocated in 1452 by Stefan Crnojević, who entered the Venetian service during the rebellion. After the first Austrian rule (from 1797), then the Russian (from 1806), French (1807–13) and after a short Montenegrin rule (1814), Kotor again belonged to Austria and became an important war port (until 1918). After World War I, it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, within the Zeta Banovina. In II. he was annexed to Italy during World War II (1941–43), and after its capitulation it was under direct German military administration. From October 1944, it was part of the second Yugoslavia as part of Montenegro. In 1979, the city was damaged in an earthquake. Separation from Croatia caused the emigration of the Croatian population. At the same time, the Montenegrin population immigrated from the hinterland, which further reduced the share of the Croatian population, so according to the 1981 census, the share of Croats in the municipal population was 8.1%, in 1991. was 7.2%, and in 2011. 6.9%. so according to the 1981 census, the share of Croats in the municipal population was 8.1%, in 1991. was 7.2%, and in 2011. 6.9%. so according to the 1981 census, the share of Croats in the municipal population was 8.1%, in 1991. was 7.2%, and in 2011. 6.9%.

The economic rise of Kotor from the beginning of the XIV. century enabled the cultural upliftment of the city. Many Kotorans were educated abroad, in older times in Italy (Padua), and later in Vienna, Graz and Prague, and famous painters, builders and sculptors worked in the city. Cathedral of St. Trypuna, a three-nave Romanesque basilica with a dome (demolished in the 16th century), was built in 1166 on the site of the earlier church of St. Trypuna (IX century). In 809, the saint's relics were brought to it from Constantinople, so he became the protector of the city. The rosette and the large archivolt above the main entrance and the bell tower were erected at the end of the 17th century. Restorations in the second half of the XIX. and from the beginning of the twentieth century they partly changed its former appearance. In the main apse of the cathedral there is a large Romanesque-Gothic ciborium with depictions from the life of St. Trypuna (1362) and the altarpiece (15th century). Several churches have been preserved from the Romanesque period (St. Luke, 1195; St. Mary, the so-called Collegiata, 1221) and a number of houses, rebuilt over time, in the part of the town below the hill. Rare are the entirely preserved Gothic and Renaissance churches and palaces (floral decoration from the transition from Gothic to Renaissance at the Bisanti Palace, second half of the 15th century). A large number of architectural fragments and sculptures made by stonemasons and builders from Korčula, Dubrovnik and Kotor have been preserved from that time. Kotor builders also worked in the neighboring areas (the Franciscan Vid from Kotor built the monastery of Decani, 1335). In the Gothic period and at the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance, Kotor goldsmiths, known beyond the borders of their homeland, made objects from precious metals (eg Tripun Kotoranin worked in 1476 at the court of Ivan the Terrible in Moscow). Among the most famous objects of goldsmithing are Contaren's cross from the XV. century and gilded silver relief fell of St. Tripuna from 1440 (the middle part was done by Ivan from Basel, and the side ones, among others, by Marin Adamov from Kotor). In the Middle Ages in Kotor there were so-called Greek painters(pictores graeci), among whom Nicholas and Manojlo at the beginning of the XIV. century (frescoes in the cathedral). After the earthquake in 1667, Baroque was represented in almost all monuments of ecclesiastical, secular and military architecture in Kotor: the reconstruction of the city walls, the bell tower of Our Lady of Health, the Pima Palace, the Grgurin Palace (now the Maritime Museum) and the Providur Palace. at the end of II. World War II, and the Clock Tower from 1602. In the XIX. and at the beginning of the 20th century, a municipality, a gymnasium, and the Orthodox Church of Sts. Nikola, which did not fit into the old core, and in recent times Kotor is expanding beyond the city walls. Numerous fragments of ancient, medieval, Gothic and Renaissance stone monuments are on display in the lapidary, and valuable liturgical objects are kept in the cathedral's treasury.