Cetinje, the historic capital you can see in a long afternoon

Some towns you visit for a single monument; others you visit because they explain a country. Cetinje is firmly in the second camp. It’s small, quiet and rather wet, with wide streets, old embassy buildings and the feel of an English university town, which catches people off guard when they arrive from the coast. Yet this was where power in Montenegro sat for centuries, and a two-hour stroll takes you past nearly every place where its history was decided.

Why Cetinje is the old capital

The Constitution names Podgorica as the capital and gives Cetinje the title «Prijestonica», which its own English version renders as Old Royal Capital. That distinction is worth having in your head before you arrive, because Cetinje no longer has the ministries, but it once had the lot.

The Cetinje tourist board tells how Ivan Crnojević, ruler of Zeta, retreating before the Ottomans, moved his seat from Žabljak Crnojevića to Obod, today’s Rijeka Crnojevića, and in 1482 settled on the Cetinje plain, where he built a palace and then a monastery. The town took its name from the Cetina, the river that ran through it. Centuries later the Petrović-Njegoš family governed from here, and the National Tourism Organisation credits them with 222 years in power.

The monastery, the Biljarda and the palace

Everything that matters is within a few hundred metres. Cetinje Monastery, at the foot of Orlov krš, keeps the relics of St Peter of Cetinje plus two more that tradition identifies as the Baptist’s hand and a piece of the Cross. Its present appearance dates from 1786, after several fires.

Next door is the Biljarda, the residence that Petar II Petrović Njegoš, bishop, poet and ruler, had built in 1838 and named after the billiard table he kept inside. Today it’s a museum dedicated to him, and beside it is a relief map of Montenegro at 1:10,000, put up during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of 1916. A little further on, King Nikola’s Palace, plain outside and courtly within, has been a museum since 1926. The National Tourism Organisation reminds visitors of the king’s nickname, the father-in-law of Europe, earned by marrying off his twelve children so well.

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Museums, embassies and viewpoints

Vladin dom, finished in 1910, housed the Government and Parliament and is now home to the National Museum. At 66 by 52 metres, nothing else in Montenegro came close to it at the time. The museums in Cetinje are spread across it, the Biljarda, the palace and other buildings, and the town also has a Museum of Money and the Atelier Dado gallery, founded in 2002.

On a walk you’ll pass the former embassies, such as the Austro-Hungarian one finished in 1899 to a design by Josip Slade, the Zetski dom royal theatre, which staged its first play in 1888 in a hall for 250 people beneath ceiling paintings of the muses, and the 1983 monument to Ivan Crnojević. For views, head up Orlov krš, the hill with Bishop Danilo’s mausoleum of 1896, or to the Belvedere viewpoint above Lake Skadar, which has a restaurant. At Ćipur, where the first monastery stood, are the tombs of the king and queen.

What’s on the doorstep

Cetinje is the gateway to Lovćen National Park. Ivanova korita is about ten kilometres away and the Njegoš Mausoleum on Jezerski vrh about twenty, with 461 steps at the end. Lipa Cave is five kilometres out, with guided tours that start on a little train, and to the east the road drops to Rijeka Crnojevića and Lake Skadar. Towards the coast, the road passes through Njeguši, home village of the Petrović family and of pršut, before winding down to Kotor on the famous serpentine.

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When to go and getting around

The National Tourism Organisation recommends Cetinje in every season, and I agree with one caveat. Spain’s foreign ministry warns that it’s one of the wettest areas in Europe, so in autumn and winter bring a jacket and some patience. In summer, at 672 metres, it’s noticeably cooler than Podgorica or the coast. The town is easily walked; for Lovćen, the cave and Rijeka Crnojevića a car, taxi or tour is the only realistic option, since no bus with an official timetable serves them.