King Nikola's palace, modest outside and regal within

Anyone searching for Montenegro’s royal palace tends to picture something grand, and what they find in Cetinje is a red-fronted townhouse on a quiet square. That’s the charm of it. Nikola I, prince and then king, the last of the Petrović-Njegoš line, lived here, and inside you can feel a small court’s determination to keep up with Europe’s great royal houses.

From a widow’s house to a royal residence

The Cetinje tourist board explains that in 1863 Prince Nikola had the building put up as a home for Princess Darinka, Danilo’s widow, and locals promptly nicknamed it «Palac». Four years later he changed his mind and moved his own household here from the nearby Biljarda. In 1871 the palace gained two wings, and in 1910 a formal entrance porch and modern electric lighting. It has a broad courtyard and, on the east side, a carefully laid-out park.

The palace ceased to be a residence after Montenegro capitulated in the First World War, and in 1926 it opened as a museum. Much of the courtly atmosphere and the original furniture were kept when it did.

What’s inside

The contrast between outside and in is the first thing you notice. The façade is unassuming; the interior is that of a European royal household, with fine furniture, Persian rugs, paintings, sculpture and applied art. Today it’s a history museum with a strong collection of weapons, captured war flags, decorations and paintings.

What interests me most is the family story. The National Tourism Organisation recalls that Nikola had twelve children and was nicknamed the father-in-law of Europe, and the Cetinje tourist board adds that his daughter Jelena married the King of Italy and became Queen Elena of Savoy. Her house is also preserved in Cetinje. Walk the rooms knowing that and the portraits start to look different.

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What isn’t published

The palace is the King Nikola Museum, one of the National Museum’s sites. Its website lists neither prices nor hours, and nor does the tourist board, so I’m not giving any. I’d ask at the desk about a combined ticket with the town’s other museums, since several belong to the same institution; whatever exists, I cover it under museums in Cetinje.

Fitting it into your visit

The palace is in the middle of Cetinje, close to Cetinje Monastery, and in front of it, on the open space between the palace and the State Archives, stands the 1983 monument to Ivan Crnojević, the town’s founder, a figure by the sculptor Anto Gržetić with a sword over his shoulder for justice and a shield for defence. An hour inside is plenty. If you’re doing the full circuit, I’d go monastery, palace, then Biljarda, moving from religious power to the court and from the court to Njegoš, the man who changed everything.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in King Nikola's Palace on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Cetinje for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.